Recovery time and recovery point objectives
RTO/RPO · RTO defines how quickly a system must be running again after an outage; RPO defines how much data loss, measured in time, is acceptable at most.
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Why it matters
These two targets underpin backup and disaster recovery decisions. A business that can tolerate four hours of lost data and a payment system that cannot lose even five minutes need very different solutions. The targets should be set with the business units and confirmed through regular drills.
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Example
A shop sets its RTO at four hours and its RPO at one hour. The database is backed up hourly, and restoring from backup takes three hours in a drill; the target is met.
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Common mistake
Setting the targets and never testing them. A four-hour recovery on paper can take two days in reality; the restore time is only learned through a drill.
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Related terms
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