What is RTO (recovery time objective)?

A target for the time allowed from the occurrence of a failure or disaster until business operations or the system resume. The shorter the RTO, the more equipment and cost are needed, such as standby systems and backups ready for immediate use.

Japanese name: RTO(目標復旧時間)

RTO (recovery time objective) appears in 3 practice questions across 2 topics, including System Architecture and Reliability, IT Service Management and Systems Audit.

Field: System Architecture and Reliability

Try it: questions about RTO (recovery time objective)

For a system, the RPO (recovery point objective) is set at 4 hours and the RTO (recovery time objective) at 2 hours. A failure can occur at any time, and the time taken to make a backup is negligible. Which data protection scheme meets these targets?

  1. ABackups are taken every 1 hour, and recovery takes 3 hours when a failure occurs
  2. BBackups are taken every 3 hours, and recovery takes 1.5 hours when a failure occurs
  3. CBackups are taken every 6 hours, and recovery takes 1 hour when a failure occurs
Show answer and explanation

Answer: B. Backups are taken every 3 hours, and recovery takes 1.5 hours when a failure occurs

If a failure occurs just before the next backup, data for the whole backup interval is lost, so meeting the RPO requires a backup interval no longer than the RPO. Also, the recovery time must be no longer than the RTO. With backups every 3 hours and recovery in 1.5 hours, at most 3 hours of data is lost (4 hours or less) and recovery takes 1.5 hours (2 hours or less), so both are met. The 1-hour scheme fails the RTO, and the 6-hour scheme fails the RPO.

RTO (recovery time objective) in the explanations

Questions that mention RTO (recovery time objective) (3)

  1. For a system, the RPO (recovery point objective) is set at 4 hours and the RTO (recovery time objective) at 2 hours. A failure can occur at any time, and the time taken to make a backup is negligible. Which data protection scheme meets these targets?
  2. Which of the following is an appropriate way to draw up a business continuity plan (BCP)?
  3. In business continuity planning, which describes the RPO (recovery point objective)?

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Related terms

RPO (recovery point objective) BCP (business continuity plan) Differential backup Dual system Duplex system Fail-safe Fail-soft Fault tolerance Fool-proof Hot standby

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