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Overview

DR tests validate your protection plan without impacting production. Test instances are brought up in an isolated network environment on the DR site, allowing you to confirm recovery procedures and measure actual RTO. Xloud recommends running DR tests at least quarterly.
Regular DR tests are the only way to verify that your RPO and RTO targets are achievable and that recovery runbooks remain accurate as workloads evolve. A DR plan that has never been tested is not a reliable DR plan.
Prerequisites
  • An active protection plan with replication in ACTIVE status
  • DR site is healthy and has sufficient capacity for the test instances
  • Notify the operations team before starting a test — test traffic will appear in monitoring

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Running a DR Test

Start a DR test

Navigate to Disaster Recovery → Protection Plans, select the plan, and click Test Failover. The test brings up recovered instances in an isolated network segment — production traffic is not affected.
OptionDescription
Recovery PointWhich snapshot to use for the test — usually latest
Test NetworkIsolated network segment for test instances
Test DurationMaximum time before auto-cleanup

Validate recovered workloads

Access the test instances through the isolated DR test network. Run your application validation scripts to confirm the service is operational and data is intact.
Validation CheckWhat to Verify
Instance statusAll instances show ACTIVE on DR site
Data integrityApplication-level health checks pass
Service connectivityIntra-app communication works in isolated network
Recovery timeActual RTO measured against configured target
Test instances run in an isolated network — they cannot reach production services or external systems. This isolation is intentional and prevents DR test instances from interfering with production.

End the test

Click End Test to terminate the test instances and release the isolated environment. No changes are made to production — the protection plan remains active throughout.
DR test report generated with measured RTO and pass/fail for each validation check.

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Test Report

After each DR test, XDR generates a report including:
Report FieldDescription
Test DateWhen the test was executed
Recovery Point UsedAge of data at test time
Measured RTOActual time from test start to all resources validated
Target RTOConfigured target for comparison
Pass/FailWhether measured RTO met the configured target
Resource StatusPer-resource recovery outcome
Script ResultsOutput from pre/post recovery validation scripts
Export DR test reports from Disaster Recovery → Reports by selecting the test report type and choosing PDF or CSV format. See Compliance for scheduled report delivery.

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DR Test Schedule

FrequencyTriggerScope
QuarterlyCalendarFull protection plan test for all plans
After major changesChange eventAny plan whose workloads changed significantly
After site changesInfrastructure eventAfter DR site hardware or network changes
After runbook updatesPolicy changeWhen pre/post recovery scripts are modified
XIMP can alert when a DR test has not been run within the configured interval. Navigate to Monitoring → Alerting → Alert Rules and create a rule sourcing xdr_last_test_age_days > 90 to ensure tests are not missed.

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Next Steps

Protection Plans

Update protection plans based on test results

Failover

Full failover procedure when an actual disaster event occurs

XDR Admin — Compliance

Generate RPO/RTO compliance reports from DR test history (administrator)

Troubleshooting

Diagnose DR test failures and instance access issues