CompTIA DataSys+ (DS0-001)Business ContinuityEasy
A data engineer is designing a disaster recovery strategy for a critical OLTP database. The business requires that in the event of a disaster, the maximum acceptable data loss is 15 minutes. Which metric does this requirement directly define?
- ARecovery Point Objective (RPO)
- BRecovery Time Objective (RTO)
- CMean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
- DMean Time To Recover (MTTR)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
Recovery Point Objective (RPO) defines the maximum tolerable period in which data might be lost from an IT service due to a major incident. A 15-minute data loss tolerance directly corresponds to the RPO.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. RTO defines the maximum acceptable downtime, not data loss.
- C. MTBF measures the predicted elapsed time between inherent failures of a system during operation, not recovery metrics.
- D. MTTR measures the average time it takes to repair a system and restore it to full functionality, not data loss.
Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
The maximum tolerable amount of data loss measured in time. It dictates how frequently data backups or replication must occur.
- Defines acceptable data loss.
- Measured in time (e.g., 15 minutes, 1 hour).
- Influences backup and replication frequency.
Memory trick: RPO is your 'Point' of no return for data loss.