What do you need to have in place if your primary plan fails during a data center upgrade?

Having a backup/backout contingency plan is crucial during a data center upgrade because it outlines the specific steps to take if the primary upgrade plan encounters unforeseen issues or fails. This contingency plan is designed to ensure that you can return to a known good state, minimizing downtime and disruption to services.

A backup/backout contingency plan includes predefined procedures for reverting changes, restoring data, and securing the infrastructure. By preparing this plan ahead of time, organizations can ensure that they are equipped to handle emergencies effectively, thereby maintaining business continuity.

While an alternate strategy might be useful in some scenarios, it generally focuses on alternative approaches rather than specifically addressing the need to revert or restore after a failed implementation. Similarly, a redundant backup strategy is aimed at ensuring data preservation and availability rather than the immediate recovery actions needed after an upgrade failure. A restoration plan primarily deals with bringing systems back online, which while important, doesn't account for the specific context of backtracking changes made during the upgrade process.