![MLS Insight: Disaster Recovery Planning at RMLS™]()
by RMLS Communication Department | Jan 30, 2015
MLS Insight is a series about how things work at RMLS™.
RMLS™ began disaster recovery/business continuance (DR/BC) planning in earnest in 2002. The events of September 11, 2001, brought home the absolute necessity for this kind of planning, as it did for many businesses. Of course, part of running a responsible business has always been planning for emergencies and contingencies, but that process was formalized for RMLS™ starting in 2002.
Our first attempts at documenting the steps for disaster recovery were a little clumsy and hard to maintain. We are now on our third iteration of our DR/BC plan, and have refined it to identify the response needed for various types and levels of events—a snow day or an RMLSweb outage to the loss of our corporate facility due to earthquake or fire.
Everyone at RMLS™ has a role in helping to respond appropriately to situations that threaten the safety of employees and the continuity of the services we provide. Of course, the highest priority in any crisis is care for life and physical safety of anyone present, if that is an issue. After that, attention goes to reducing loss of data and assets. Since our service is critical to our subscribers, our goal is uninterrupted service, so a focus on speedy recovery and communication are key elements of our planning.
Part of that speedy recovery is having a redundant database and servers for RMLSweb. In 2008, we moved our DR/BC servers from a location in Portland to a building in Roseburg, built in partnership with the Douglas County Association of REALTORS®. Data is continually replicated to those servers, and during maintenance mode each month, RMLSweb actually operates from Roseburg while the main Portland servers receive their patches and updates.
Disaster recovery planning is not something that you can do once and forget about. It needs to be part of the business plan and a living, changing process
The next post will focus on listing data accuracy. If you have any questions you would like to have answered, I encourage you to post a comment.
Photo: iStockPhoto/Endurodog
![MLS Insight: Disaster Recovery Planning at RMLS™]()
by RMLS Communication Department | Jan 30, 2015
MLS Insight is a series about how things work at RMLS™.
RMLS™ began disaster recovery/business continuance (DR/BC) planning in earnest in 2002. The events of September 11, 2001, brought home the absolute necessity for this kind of planning, as it did for many businesses. Of course, part of running a responsible business has always been planning for emergencies and contingencies, but that process was formalized for RMLS™ starting in 2002.
Our first attempts at documenting the steps for disaster recovery were a little clumsy and hard to maintain. We are now on our third iteration of our DR/BC plan, and have refined it to identify the response needed for various types and levels of events—a snow day or an RMLSweb outage to the loss of our corporate facility due to earthquake or fire.
Everyone at RMLS™ has a role in helping to respond appropriately to situations that threaten the safety of employees and the continuity of the services we provide. Of course, the highest priority in any crisis is care for life and physical safety of anyone present, if that is an issue. After that, attention goes to reducing loss of data and assets. Since our service is critical to our subscribers, our goal is uninterrupted service, so a focus on speedy recovery and communication are key elements of our planning.
Part of that speedy recovery is having a redundant database and servers for RMLSweb. In 2008, we moved our DR/BC servers from a location in Portland to a building in Roseburg, built in partnership with the Douglas County Association of REALTORS®. Data is continually replicated to those servers, and during maintenance mode each month, RMLSweb actually operates from Roseburg while the main Portland servers receive their patches and updates.
Disaster recovery planning is not something that you can do once and forget about. It needs to be part of the business plan and a living, changing process
The next post will focus on listing data accuracy. If you have any questions you would like to have answered, I encourage you to post a comment.
Photo: iStockPhoto/Endurodog
![MLS Insight: Disaster Recovery Planning at RMLS™]()
by RMLS Communication Department | Jan 30, 2015
MLS Insight is a series about how things work at RMLS™.
RMLS™ began disaster recovery/business continuance (DR/BC) planning in earnest in 2002. The events of September 11, 2001, brought home the absolute necessity for this kind of planning, as it did for many businesses. Of course, part of running a responsible business has always been planning for emergencies and contingencies, but that process was formalized for RMLS™ starting in 2002.
Our first attempts at documenting the steps for disaster recovery were a little clumsy and hard to maintain. We are now on our third iteration of our DR/BC plan, and have refined it to identify the response needed for various types and levels of events—a snow day or an RMLSweb outage to the loss of our corporate facility due to earthquake or fire.
Everyone at RMLS™ has a role in helping to respond appropriately to situations that threaten the safety of employees and the continuity of the services we provide. Of course, the highest priority in any crisis is care for life and physical safety of anyone present, if that is an issue. After that, attention goes to reducing loss of data and assets. Since our service is critical to our subscribers, our goal is uninterrupted service, so a focus on speedy recovery and communication are key elements of our planning.
Part of that speedy recovery is having a redundant database and servers for RMLSweb. In 2008, we moved our DR/BC servers from a location in Portland to a building in Roseburg, built in partnership with the Douglas County Association of REALTORS®. Data is continually replicated to those servers, and during maintenance mode each month, RMLSweb actually operates from Roseburg while the main Portland servers receive their patches and updates.
Disaster recovery planning is not something that you can do once and forget about. It needs to be part of the business plan and a living, changing process
The next post will focus on listing data accuracy. If you have any questions you would like to have answered, I encourage you to post a comment.
Photo: iStockPhoto/Endurodog
![MLS Insight: Disaster Recovery Planning at RMLS™]()
by RMLS Communication Department | May 10, 2013
The RMLS™ Board of Directors recently approved a set of changes to the waiver system, recommended by a Waiver Task Force.
What is a Waiver?
When a principal broker joins RMLS™, all office licensees are also expected to become dues-paying subscribers.
A variety of circumstances may necessitate a request to waive these dues. A licensee may act solely as a personal assistant. Other licensees may oversee property management inside a realty office. A broker may fall ill and need to take time off due to their illness, or stop practicing for another reason. These situations are all common waiver requests.
What is Changing?
RMLS™ is required to give written notice to subscribers about rules changes. Beginning Monday, May 13, 2013, the following changes will take place:
- Individuals on waiver may not have their name or contact information included on any promotional material for any active listing on RMLSweb.
- The minimum time period for a waiver request will be six months, with the exception of an illness waiver, which will be three months.
- A $250 fee for violation of the terms and conditions of the waiver will be applied to participants (principal brokers) as well as the licensee on waiver.
- If a licensed personal assistant is found to be in violation, they will be charged back dues for full access, not to exceed one year.
- The “other” category will be removed, and a “Property Management” category will take its place.
Need to know more? Read the redlined waiver document. Click the links to apply for an RMLS™ waiver as a new subscriber, or apply for an RMLS™ waiver as an existing subscriber.
![MLS Insight: Disaster Recovery Planning at RMLS™]()
by RMLS Communication Department | May 10, 2013
The RMLS™ Board of Directors recently approved a set of changes to the waiver system, recommended by a Waiver Task Force.
What is a Waiver?
When a principal broker joins RMLS™, all office licensees are also expected to become dues-paying subscribers.
A variety of circumstances may necessitate a request to waive these dues. A licensee may act solely as a personal assistant. Other licensees may oversee property management inside a realty office. A broker may fall ill and need to take time off due to their illness, or stop practicing for another reason. These situations are all common waiver requests.
What is Changing?
RMLS™ is required to give written notice to subscribers about rules changes. Beginning Monday, May 13, 2013, the following changes will take place:
- Individuals on waiver may not have their name or contact information included on any promotional material for any active listing on RMLSweb.
- The minimum time period for a waiver request will be six months, with the exception of an illness waiver, which will be three months.
- A $250 fee for violation of the terms and conditions of the waiver will be applied to participants (principal brokers) as well as the licensee on waiver.
- If a licensed personal assistant is found to be in violation, they will be charged back dues for full access, not to exceed one year.
- The “other” category will be removed, and a “Property Management” category will take its place.
Need to know more? Read the redlined waiver document. Click the links to apply for an RMLS™ waiver as a new subscriber, or apply for an RMLS™ waiver as an existing subscriber.
MLS Insight is a series about how things work at RMLS™.