Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)Cloud Platform and Infrastructure SecurityHard
A cloud security architect is designing a highly available and resilient application in a public cloud. The application uses multiple virtual machines (VMs) and a database. To ensure business continuity, the architect must implement a strategy where the application can automatically fail over to a geographically separate location with minimal data loss and recovery time. Which disaster recovery (DR) strategy best fits these requirements?
- ABackup and Restore
- BWarm Standby
- CPilot Light
- DMulti-Region Active-Active
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Multi-Region Active-Active
Multi-Region Active-Active provides the lowest RTO and RPO by running the application simultaneously in multiple regions, allowing for immediate failover with near-zero data loss.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Backup and Restore has the highest RTO and RPO, as data must be restored and infrastructure rebuilt.
- B. Warm Standby has pre-provisioned infrastructure and replicated data, but still requires a switch-over, resulting in a higher RTO than active-active.
- C. Pilot Light involves replicating data and core infrastructure, but requires spinning up full capacity, leading to higher RTO than active-active.
Multi-Region Active-Active DR
A disaster recovery strategy where an application runs simultaneously in two or more geographically separate regions, with traffic distributed between them.
- Provides the lowest Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO).
- Offers immediate failover with near-zero data loss.
- Highest cost due to duplicate infrastructure.
Memory trick: DR strategies are like fire drills: how fast can we get back, and how much stuff do we lose? Active-Active is like having two identical fire stations both running 24/7.