N10-009 Question 216
Single answer3.3 Explain disaster recovery (DR) concepts.A regional medical clinic relies on a centralized scheduling application hosted in its primary data center. After a power event causes major damage to the facility, leadership states the application must be available again within 2 hours, and no more than 15 minutes of data can be lost. The network administrator is reviewing disaster recovery options for the application and its database. Which solution BEST meets these requirements?
- A
Maintain a warm site with replicated virtual servers and database synchronization every 5 minutes
- B
Maintain a cold site with network equipment in storage and restore the latest nightly backup after a disaster
- C
Rely on a hot site but perform database backups only once every 24 hours
- D
Keep replacement hardware under a vendor SLA that guarantees delivery within 4 hours
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
This question tests the ability to apply disaster recovery concepts using RTO and RPO. RTO is the maximum acceptable time to restore service after an outage, while RPO is the maximum acceptable amount of data loss measured in time. In this scenario, the organization needs the application back within 2 hours and can lose no more than 15 minutes of data. The best match is a warm site combined with frequent replication, because it balances recovery speed and data currency. A cold site is generally too slow for a 2-hour restoration window, and nightly backups do not meet a 15-minute RPO. A hot site can satisfy aggressive recovery times, but if the data protection method does not meet the RPO, the solution still fails the requirement. This aligns with common disaster recovery planning guidance from sources such as NIST contingency planning publications and industry best practices that require matching recovery strategies directly to defined RTO and RPO targets.
- A. Correct.
Correct. A warm site provides partially prepared infrastructure that can be brought online faster than a cold site, typically meeting a relatively short recovery time objective (RTO) such as 2 hours when properly designed and tested. Database synchronization every 5 minutes also supports the required recovery point objective (RPO) of no more than 15 minutes of data loss, because the replicated data is more current than the maximum allowable loss window.
- B. Incorrect.
Incorrect. A cold site usually has little or no active infrastructure ready for immediate use, so provisioning systems, restoring services, and validating connectivity commonly takes much longer than 2 hours. Restoring from a nightly backup would also allow up to many hours of data loss, which fails the 15-minute RPO requirement.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. A hot site is stronger than needed for RTO because it is designed for near-immediate availability, but the backup frequency in this option does not meet the RPO. If backups occur only once every 24 hours, up to a full day of data could be lost, which is far beyond the 15-minute maximum.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. A hardware replacement SLA addresses part of business continuity planning, but it is not a complete disaster recovery solution for restoring application services and data within the stated objectives. Even if hardware arrives in 4 hours, that alone already exceeds the 2-hour RTO, and it does nothing to ensure an RPO of 15 minutes.