Small Business Backup and Disaster Recovery Runbook

What it is

Most small businesses have backups. Very few have ever tested a restore, and almost none have written down where the backups live, who to call, or what to do first when the server stops answering. That missing page is what turns a bad morning into a lost week.

This runbook is the page. You fill it in once, while everything works: what data you cannot afford to lose, what is backed up and where, vendor phone numbers, and where each password is kept (never the passwords themselves). Then it walks you, in plain English, through the problems that actually happen: a deleted file, a dead computer, a server that will not respond, email that vanished, and the first hour of a real disaster like a fire or a theft.

It also builds in the habit that separates businesses that recover from businesses that hope: a 20 minute restore test, four times a year, with a log to prove it happened.

What is inside

• The runbook as a print ready PDF (12 pages, US Letter): fill in by hand, post the pages that matter, keep it where the team can find it.
• The same runbook as an editable document (Word and Markdown), so you can type your answers and reprint as things change.
• A one page "Server is down, do this first" card (separate PDF, also the last page of the runbook): big type, ordered steps, and fill in lines for who to call. Made to be posted next to the server.
• A companion spreadsheet with five sheets: instructions, a backup inventory, a quarterly restore test log with a worked example, a vendor contact sheet, and an accounts locator that records where passwords are kept, never the passwords themselves.

Who it is for

• Owners of small businesses with a server, a few computers, or both, and no IT department.
• Office managers who would be the person standing in front of the server when it stops working.
• Any business that has backups but has never restored from one on purpose.
• Businesses that would rather hand a new hire a filled in book than a pile of sticky notes.

What you get

• backup-dr-runbook.pdf
• server-down-card.pdf
• backup-dr-runbook.docx
• backup-dr-runbook.md
• backup-dr-worksheets.xlsx

Your download is one ZIP file containing the files above. A download link is emailed after PayPal verifies your completed payment. You can also retrieve the files using your transaction ID and buyer email on the secure delivery page.

Please note

• This is an organizational and educational aid from VibeCMD LLC. It helps you record your own backup details and gives a plain English order of steps for common problems. It is not a substitute for your backup vendor's own instructions, and when the two disagree about their product, follow the vendor.
• It does not set up, monitor, or manage your backups, and it includes no software.
• No backup method can promise that every file will always come back. That is exactly why the runbook includes the quarterly restore test: testing is how you find the gaps while they are still cheap to fix.
• This listing contains no testimonials and no recovery statistics, because we would rather sell you a true thing than a dramatic one.
• Questions, or want a hand filling it in? VibeCMD LLC provides IT support for small businesses in the Citrus Heights and Sacramento area: vibecmd.net.