A tabletop exercise is a type of disaster recovery testing exercise that is primarily used to discuss incident response strategies for critical systems without affecting production data. A tabletop exercise is a discussion- based session where team members meet in an informal, classroom setting to review their roles and responsibilities during an emergency and their responses to a hypothetical scenario. A facilitator guides the participants through the discussion and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the preparedness program. A tabletop exercise does not involve any actual deployment of resources oractivation of systems12.
A backup recovery test (B) is a type of disaster recovery testing exercise that involves restoring data from backup media to verify its integrity and availability. A backup recovery test may affect production data if it is not performed on a separate environment. A live failover is a type of disaster recovery testing exercise that involves switching operations from a primary site to a secondary site in case of a failure or disruption. A live failover may affect production data if it is not performed on a simulated environment. A hot-site visit audit (D) is a type of disaster recovery testing exercise that involves inspecting and evaluating a hot site, which is a backup location that has fully operational equipment and resources to resume business operations in case of a disaster. A hot-site visit audit does not involve any discussion of incident response strategies or simulation of scenarios. References: 1 https://www.ready.gov/testing-exercises 2 https://www.ready.gov/exercises