It depends who is paying for it and what they are prepared to pay for

- If you are having your own hardware in another site you own, that can be expensive, although it is convenient for testing. This would allow:-
- SAN replication, so fully up-to-date restore
- DR testing before and after major server upgrades or application changes
- Ability to switch sites for building maintenance that requires a power off
However, it costs:-- Hardware
- Maintenance
- Power
- Checking routine (yes I've been there when we went to a test to find the single boot device broken)
- Off-site media handling from two sites
- Network management
- etc.
- If you are hiring servers from a 3rd party, then that can be cheaper but less convenient. It gives you:-
- Reduced cost
- Hardware maintenance free
- Simpler network management (although still plenty to do)
But it costs you- Flexibility of testing time
- Ability to move your workload to perform work on the building that would affect services (e.g. power off)
You have to work out where you sit and based on that, you can then decide on your capacity needs. The recovery process should be the same for whichever you choose, else you will never be sure what you are recovering. Try to get as simple a process as possible that is generic for your servers.
If you are using a 3rd party provider, then often they will help you work things through. It is their business after all, so they want to help.
I hope that this helps,
Robin
Liverpool/Blackburn
UK