BUILDING A DISASTER RECOVERY SYSTEM USING AWS CLOUD TECHNOLOGY

A disaster recovery system needs to be comprehensive and account for more than just cyber attacks. For example, natural disasters can be equally damaging to a company's IT infrastructure. Therefore, it made sense to implement the DR solution on the AWS Cloud since it allows multi-regional hosting, in addition to being scalable and cost-effective.

Veritas agreed to a Proof of Concept (PoC) that would secure their 4 pieces of critical infrastructure:

• SAP ERP
• SAP BW
• Comerzzia POS
• Sislog WMS
  

AN AUTOMATED DISASTER RECOVERY SYSTEM BASED ON BLOCK-BY-BLOCK TECHNOLOGY

The technical implementation of the Disaster Recovery (DR) system was done using AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery based on block-by-block replication technology. This allows a continuous copy of on-premise servers to be stored in the Cloud. In the event of a disaster, AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery orchestrates the start-up of new servers with a very low Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO).

The project went through 5 phases:

1. Infrastructure preparation
2. Unitary environment recovery
3. Orchestrator automation
4. Unitary environment recovery
5. DR testing

In less than 3 months' time, the DR solution was in place and fully validated. The final architecture diagram can be seen in the figure below.

Architecture diagram of the Disaster Recovery system.

Here are some of the benefits of the new system:

• Cost reduction using a multi-tiered DR system based on the priority of certain applications. 
• Replication is done continuously and in the background without the need to restart the servers.
• Compatibility with all types of infrastructure, operating systems, and databases.
• AWS guarantees an RPO of seconds and an RTO of minutes.
  

ABOUT VERITAS

Veritas is the leading supermarket chain committed to people's health and sustainability in Spain. Since its foundation in 2002 in Barcelona, with the aim of bringing the best possible food to everyone, it now has more than 80 shops, including the online shop, serving 200,000 families, through two brands, Veritas in Catalonia, the Basque Country, Navarre, the Balearic Islands, Madrid, Andorra and Ecorganic in the Valencian Community.

Veritas makes the bread and pastries that it sells in its shops. From its subsidiary Anna Ecológica, the Group distributes to communities such as schools, hospitals, and companies and to hotels and restaurants throughout the peninsula and the Balearic Islands.

With more than 6,000 products, Veritas is a pioneer in the introduction of certified organic products. It favors local, seasonal, and organically grown products, and is committed to health, taste, the environment, and responsible consumption.

Veritas was the first European supermarket to achieve Bcorp Certification in 2016. This means, and recognizes, that it is a company committed to the health of people and the planet.

SECURING BUSINESS OPERATIONS THROUGH CYBER SECURITY

Cyber attacks have increased in frequency in recent years with companies of all sizes being hit daily. When a company is successfully exploited the economic impact can be devastating. The thing that separates many of these companies from ruin is a strong disaster recovery (DR) system. 

At the end of 2020, Veritas’ IT infrastructure was exclusively on-premise, with no DR system in place. Like many modern businesses, their IT systems are required to be online 24x7x365. In the face of increasing cyber attacks globally, Veritas approached Zoi about implementing a DR system to help them secure and ensure the availability of their critical IT infrastructure. 

Their critical IT infrastructure in this case consisted of SAP ERP for resource planning, SAP BW for reporting, Comerzzia as a Point of Sale (PoS) solution, and Sislog as a Warehouse Management Solution (WMS).