Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)Cloud Data SecurityHard

A cloud service customer needs to implement a data backup strategy for critical application data stored in a cloud database. The Recovery Time Objective (RTO) for this data is 4 hours, and the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is 1 hour. Which backup and recovery approach is most likely to meet these objectives efficiently?

  1. AContinuous data protection (CDP) with near-instant recovery
  2. BWeekly full backups with daily incremental backups
  3. CDaily full backups with hourly transaction log shipping
  4. DMonthly full backups with continuous archiving
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: A. Continuous data protection (CDP) with near-instant recovery

An RPO of 1 hour means that no more than one hour of data can be lost. An RTO of 4 hours means the system must be restored within 4 hours. Continuous Data Protection (CDP) records every change, allowing recovery to any point in time, effectively achieving near-zero RPO and very fast RTOs, making it the most suitable for these tight requirements.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. Weekly full and daily incremental backups would likely result in an RPO much greater than 1 hour and an RTO greater than 4 hours.
  • C. Hourly transaction log shipping would help with RPO, but daily full backups might make RTO difficult to meet for a full restore within 4 hours, depending on data volume.
  • D. Monthly full backups would fail both RPO and RTO requirements due to significant data loss potential and long recovery times.

Continuous Data Protection (CDP)

A backup and recovery strategy that continuously captures or tracks data changes, allowing a user to restore data to any point in time. This approach typically offers very low Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) and fast Recovery Time Objectives (RTO).

  • Captures changes continuously.
  • Enables recovery to any point in time.
  • Achieves near-zero RPO and low RTO.

Memory trick: CDP: Constantly Data Protected, Critically Quick Recovery.

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