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RPO - Recovery Point Objective

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1 min read
Dec 13, 2018

In this age of technology, the term RPO may be one commonly used in your office. RPO is otherwise known as Recovery Point Objective and refers to the age of files that must be recovered from backup storage for normal operations to resume in case your network goes down. Determining the RPO can be important in Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) and is vital in keeping your company functioning. Find out more about how RPO works to protect you.

The RPO is expressed backward in time, from the instant failure occurs, and can be specified in seconds, minutes, hours or days. Once this is defined, a minimum frequency with which backups must be made is determined as is the RTO (Recovery Time Objective). This information helps administrators choose the best disaster recovery technologies and procedures.

For example, if RPO is one hour, backups should be made at least once per hour. In cases where RPO time is minimal, external, redundant hard drives may be the best disaster recovery solution.

If RPO is longer, say up to five days, backups should be made at intervals of 120 hours or less. In these cases, a tape or recordable compact disc may be suitable solutions.

Although many companies are staffed with an IT staff, in some cases it is necessary to bring in an outside contractor or vendor, especially in cases where valuable information could be lost or company functioning could be put on hold due to a computer malfunction. Skilled vendor management should be employed to ensure the right people will be on hand when you need them.

Technology can make your business run more efficiently, but when things break down, it can be disastrous. Familiarize yourself with RPO procedures and be sure to have an experienced technician available to keep your information safe and your company is functioning properly.

 

Related: What is Business Continuity Management?


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