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CAS-004 Practice Question: A small business uses a single on-premise server…
A small business uses a single on-premise server running a custom application and a SQL database. The IT manager is concerned about data loss due to hardware failure. The company has a backup tape drive but often forgets to change tapes. The RTO is 24 hours and RPO is 4 hours. Which of the following is the BEST improvement to meet the RPO/RTO requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often mistake RAID or clustering as a backup solution, but these do not protect against logical corruption or meet RPO/RTO without a separate backup process. Differential backups still rely on tape changes and human intervention, failing the RPO.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use a cloud-based backup service with hourly incremental backups.
Cloud-based backup services with hourly incremental backups can meet a 4-hour RPO by capturing changes every hour, and the RTO of 24 hours is achievable through rapid restoration from the cloud. This eliminates the human error of forgetting to change tapes and provides automated, off-site data protection against hardware failure.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Purchase a second identical server and set up failover clustering.
Why it's wrong here
Clustering is expensive and complex; may not meet RPO without real-time replication.
- ✗
Switch to daily differential backups and store tapes offsite.
Why it's wrong here
Daily backups may exceed the 4-hour RPO if data changes frequently.
- ✗
Implement a RAID 1 mirroring for the server's hard drives.
Why it's wrong here
RAID protects against disk failure but not logical corruption or other failures; does not meet RPO/RTO.
- ✓
Use a cloud-based backup service with hourly incremental backups.
Why this is correct
Hourly backups meet RPO of 4 hours; cloud restore can meet RTO of 24 hours.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CAS-005 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CAS-005 exam.