Disaster Recovery Exercise Postmortem

AGIIS Insider

Disaster Recovery Exercise Postmortem

By Chris Crutchfield, AGIIS Product Manager

The annual Ag Industry Identification System (AGIIS) disaster recovery exercise was conducted on July 24 and 25, providing an important opportunity to confirm recovery readiness and identify areas where additional attention may be needed.

During the exercise, the team tested multiple methods of access to AGIIS, including web access, API access, and FTP access. Web access and API testing were completed successfully, confirming that those critical access methods performed as expected during the exercise window.

FTP access testing was not successful. While that was not the desired outcome, it is also not necessarily a negative result. One of the primary reasons disaster recovery exercises are conducted is to uncover issues in a controlled, planned setting—before they have the potential to affect subscribers during an actual recovery event.

By identifying the FTP access issue through this exercise, the AGIIS team now can investigate the cause, determine the appropriate corrective actions, and strengthen the recovery process. These lessons learned are a valuable part of maintaining a resilient service and improving preparedness year over year.

The successful web and API testing demonstrates meaningful progress in validating AGIIS recovery capabilities, while the FTP finding gives the team a clear area of focus for follow-up. Together, these results reinforce the value of regular disaster recovery testing and the commitment to ensuring AGIIS remains prepared to support industry users when it matters most.

If you have any questions about the exercise, reach out to me via email at chris.crutchfield@aggateway.org.