Purpose

The Contingency and Resiliency Pattern defines the approved reference architecture for recoverability, resiliency, operational continuity, restoration, and service sustainability within University-managed technology environments.

This pattern describes how workloads, platforms, identity services, monitoring services, data-protection services, recovery services, and operational teams interact to support restoration and continued operation following failures, disruptions, outages, or disaster events.

The pattern provides a common resiliency architecture supporting workload sustainability, restoration capabilities, and operational continuity across University-managed technology environments.

Applicable standards, workload classifications, data classifications, business requirements, and obligations determine the recovery capabilities implemented within this architecture.

Use Cases

This pattern applies when:

• Hosting applications
• Hosting databases
• Hosting platform services
• Hosting integrations
• Hosting data products
• Implementing workload recoverability
• Implementing operational continuity capabilities
• Implementing restoration capabilities
• Implementing resilience architectures
• Supporting critical business, academic, research, or administrative services

This pattern does not define:

• Recovery time objectives
• Recovery point objectives
• Backup schedules
• Operational procedures
• Testing schedules
• Business continuity procedures
• Disaster recovery procedures
• Retention requirements
• Specific recovery-control requirements

Pattern Application

The Contingency and Resiliency Pattern provides a common recovery architecture for University-managed workloads.

Innovation Workloads

Innovation workloads may implement simplified resiliency architectures appropriate for research, experimentation, pilot initiatives, and proof-of-concept activities.

Enterprise Workloads

Enterprise workloads implement the Contingency and Resiliency Pattern using the standard enterprise recovery architecture.

Regulated Workloads

Regulated workloads implement the Contingency and Resiliency Pattern using additional resiliency capabilities, operational continuity capabilities, recovery boundaries, and obligation-specific extensions.

Design Principles

Resiliency by Design

Recovery and resiliency capabilities are incorporated into architecture designs rather than introduced after deployment.

Failure Assumption

Architectures assume components, services, platforms, integrations, and dependencies may fail and provide recovery capabilities supporting restoration of service.

Recoverability

Architectures provide capabilities supporting workload, platform, service, and data restoration.

Operational Continuity

Architectures support continued operation or restoration of operation following disruptions affecting technology services.

Composable Recovery Architecture

Recovery capabilities are assembled from reusable architecture components supporting multiple workload classifications and hosting models.

Shared Recovery Services

Recovery capabilities may leverage approved enterprise recovery, monitoring, identity, governance, and data-protection services.

Logical Architecture

Workload
        |
        +-- Applications
        +-- Databases
        +-- Platform Services
        +-- Integration Services
        +-- Data Products
        |
        v

Resiliency Architecture
        |
        +-- Data Protection Services
        +-- Recovery Services
        +-- Monitoring Services
        +-- Identity Services
        +-- Shared Recovery Capabilities
        |
        v

Recovery Operations
        |
        v

Restored Service

Resiliency Architecture Components

Workload Resiliency Component

Provides the architecture supporting continued operation, service restoration, and workload sustainability.

Data Recovery Component

Provides the architecture supporting restoration of protected data required for workload recovery.

Recovery Services Component

Provides recovery capabilities supporting restoration of applications, services, platforms, and supporting resources.

Operational Continuity Component

Provides capabilities supporting service continuation, service restoration, and operational sustainability.

Recovery Coordination Component

Provides the architecture supporting coordination between workload, platform, monitoring, identity, and data-protection capabilities during restoration activities.

Recovery Visibility Component

Provides operational visibility supporting failure detection, recovery activities, restoration validation, and recovery operations.

Shared Recovery Component

Provides reusable recovery services supporting multiple workloads, platforms, and hosting environments.

Recovery Models

Application Recovery

Applications implement recovery architectures supporting restoration of application capabilities and services.

Data Recovery

Data platforms implement recovery architectures supporting restoration of required information assets and data services.

Platform Recovery

Platform services implement recovery architectures supporting restoration of shared platform capabilities.

Identity Recovery

Identity services provide recovery capabilities supporting continued authentication, authorization, and identity-management functions.

Monitoring Recovery

Monitoring services provide visibility supporting recovery activities, restoration activities, and operational investigations.

Integration Recovery

Integration services provide recovery capabilities supporting restoration of communications, data exchange, and dependent service interactions.

Recovery Boundaries

Workload Recovery Boundary

The workload recovery boundary contains recovery capabilities directly supporting a workload and its dependencies.

Platform Recovery Boundary

The platform recovery boundary contains shared recovery services supporting multiple workloads.

Data Recovery Boundary

The data recovery boundary contains the capabilities supporting restoration of protected information assets.

Enterprise Recovery Boundary

The enterprise recovery boundary contains centrally operated recovery capabilities supporting multiple technology environments.

External Dependency Boundary

The external dependency boundary contains recovery dependencies associated with systems, services, providers, and platforms outside direct University operational control.

Resiliency Integration

Identity Integration

The Contingency and Resiliency Pattern integrates with the Identity Pattern to support recovery of authentication, authorization, administrative access, and workload identities.

Monitoring Integration

The Contingency and Resiliency Pattern integrates with the Monitoring Pattern to support failure detection, recovery visibility, operational awareness, and restoration activities.

Network Integration

The Contingency and Resiliency Pattern integrates with the Network Pattern to support restoration of connectivity, communication paths, and service interactions.

Data Protection Integration

The Contingency and Resiliency Pattern integrates with the Data Protection Pattern to support restoration of protected information assets.

Shared-Service Integration

The Contingency and Resiliency Pattern integrates with approved enterprise shared services supporting recovery and operational continuity.

Landing Zone Integration

Landing Zones implement this pattern through approved recovery architectures and reusable resiliency components.

Operational Responsibilities

Enterprise Service Providers

Enterprise service providers own enterprise recovery services, recovery architecture, recovery platforms, and shared resiliency capabilities.

Platform Engineering

Platform Engineering owns reusable resiliency architecture components, onboarding automation, and Landing Zone resiliency integration.

Information Security

Information Security provides security requirements consumed by recovery architectures and participates in reviews and investigations.

Operations Teams

Operations teams use resiliency capabilities to support restoration activities, operational continuity activities, and service recovery.

Workload Teams

Workload teams own workload recovery architecture, workload restoration activities, workload dependencies, and workload-specific resiliency integration.

Automation Pattern

Resiliency architectures should be implemented through approved platform automation whenever practical.

Automation may support:

• Recovery onboarding
• Platform integration
• Data-protection integration
• Monitoring integration
• Identity integration
• Landing Zone integration
• Recovery-service integration
• Workload onboarding

Recovery Definition
        |
        +-- Recovery Services
        +-- Data Recovery
        +-- Monitoring Integration
        +-- Identity Integration
        +-- Operational Continuity
        |
        v

Reusable Recovery Components
        |
        v

Landing Zone or Workload Deployment
        |
        v

Integrated Resiliency Architecture

Recovery automation components should be reusable across supported hosting architectures, workload classifications, and platform products.

Reference Architecture Outcomes

A workload implementing this pattern should provide:

• Recoverability
• Service restoration capability
• Operational continuity support
• Data restoration capability
• Identity-service recovery integration
• Monitoring-service recovery integration
• Platform-recovery integration
• Shared recovery-service integration
• Operational supportability
• Reusable resiliency architecture
• Repeatable onboarding
• Support for workload and obligation-specific extensions

Exceptions

Exceptions to this pattern must follow approved architecture governance and information security exception processes.

Approved exceptions must be periodically reviewed and must not be treated as permanent architecture patterns.