How to Think About Backup, DR, and RTO/RPO

Disaster recovery planning requires understanding two critical metrics: Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO). These metrics guide your backup and DR strategy.

What is RTO?

Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is the maximum acceptable downtime after a disaster. It answers the question: “How long can we be down?”

Examples

Mission-critical systems: RTO of 1-4 hours
Important but not critical: RTO of 24-48 hours
Non-critical systems: RTO of several days

What is RPO?

Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is the maximum acceptable data loss. It answers the question: “How much data can we afford to lose?”

Examples

Real-time systems: RPO of 0 (no data loss)
Transactional systems: RPO of 15 minutes to 1 hour
Batch processing: RPO of 24 hours

Defining Your RTO and RPO

Step 1: Business Impact Analysis

Identify critical systems and their business impact:

Revenue impact
Customer impact
Regulatory requirements
Operational dependencies

Step 2: Cost-Benefit Analysis

Balancing RTO/RPO requirements with costs:

Lower RTO/RPO = Higher costs
Higher RTO/RPO = Lower costs but greater risk

Step 3: Technology Selection

Choose backup and DR solutions that meet your RTO/RPO:

RPO < 1 hour: Continuous replication
RPO 1-24 hours: Frequent backups (hourly/daily)
RPO > 24 hours: Daily or weekly backups

Testing Your DR Plan

Regular testing is essential:

Tabletop exercises: Walk through recovery procedures
Partial failover tests: Test specific systems
Full DR drills: Complete disaster recovery simulation

Common Mistakes

Setting RTO/RPO without business input
Not testing recovery procedures
Assuming backups work without verification
Ignoring dependencies between systems

Conclusion

Effective disaster recovery planning starts with understanding RTO and RPO. By defining these metrics based on business requirements and testing your recovery procedures, you can ensure your organization can recover from disasters quickly and with minimal data loss.

Need help defining your RTO/RPO or implementing a DR solution? Contact us to discuss your requirements.