SK0-005 security-disaster-recovery Practice Question
A healthcare provider is reviewing its disaster recovery strategy. They have two data centers: one primary in City A and a secondary in City B, 200 miles apart. Currently, they perform daily backups that are replicated to City B each night. In the event of a primary site failure, they can fail over to City B, but there is a 4-hour RTO due to manual processes. Their new RTO target is 2 hours, with an RPO of 15 minutes. The IT team is considering various replication technologies. The provider runs a mix of Windows and Linux servers hosting electronic health records (EHR), PACS imaging, and billing applications. Their current backup scheme is a full backup each night, with transaction logs backed up every 6 hours, but these are not immediately shipped offsite. They have experienced power outages in City A, prompting the review. The IT director is concerned about data consistency and quick recovery. The secondary site currently has sufficient hardware to run all critical applications, but data is only updated nightly. The link between data centers has 100 Mbps bandwidth and 10 ms latency, and upgrading it would cost $50,000. The existing staff can script failover procedures. Which solution best meets the new RPO and RTO while staying within budget?
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
✓
Implement asynchronous block-level replication with a 15-minute lag, and automate failover scripts to reduce RTO.
Option A is correct because asynchronous block-level replication with a 15-minute lag directly meets the RPO, and combining it with automated failover scripts can achieve the 2-hour RTO without requiring a costly bandwidth upgrade. Option B would meet the requirements but the link upgrade and synchronous replication infrastructure exceed the budget. Option C fails the RPO (4-hour backups are too infrequent) and RTO (manual failover is 4 hours). Option D uses application log shipping that is not comprehensive (misses other servers) and manual failover would not meet the RTO.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use application-level log shipping from the primary databases to secondary with a 5-minute delay, and manually failover.
Why it's wrong here
Log shipping only protects databases, not file servers or other applications, and manual failover would exceed the 2-hour RTO.
- ✗
Increase backup frequency to every 4 hours and use a warm site with pre-staged hardware, keeping the manual failover process.
Why it's wrong here
A 4-hour backup frequency fails the 15-minute RPO, and manual processes would not reduce the RTO from 4 hours.
- ✗
Upgrade the inter-site link to 1 Gbps and implement synchronous replication for all critical VMs.
Why it's wrong here
Upgrading bandwidth and synchronous replication are expensive and beyond the stated budget constraints, though they would technically meet RPO/RTO.
- ✓
Implement asynchronous block-level replication with a 15-minute lag, and automate failover scripts to reduce RTO.
Why this is correct
Asynchronous replication at 15-minute intervals meets the RPO, and automation reduces the failover time to within 2 hours, all without major bandwidth upgrades.
Visual reference
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Related to this question
Learn chapter
Server Hardware Components and Form Factors
Key term
Event
An event is any identifiable occurrence or action in a computer system, network, or application that can be logged, monitored, or analyzed for security or operational purposes.
Key term
Failover
Failover is the automatic switching to a backup system when the primary system fails, ensuring continuous operation and minimal downtime.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed July 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
This SK0-005 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 SK0-005 exam.