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CISA Practice Question: Is implementing a backup strategy for its…
An organization is implementing a backup strategy for its critical database. The database is updated continuously during business hours, and the recovery point objective (RPO) is 15 minutes. Which backup method should be used to meet the RPO while minimizing backup storage and performance impact?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse synchronous replication (Option B) with a backup method, but it is a high-availability solution that does not meet RPO requirements without additional log backups and introduces performance degradation, whereas transaction log backups are the correct granular backup technique for low RPOs.
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
✓
Perform incremental backups with transaction log backups every 15 minutes
Incremental backups with transaction log backups every 15 minutes meets the 15-minute RPO by capturing all changes since the last full or incremental backup, while transaction log backups record every individual database transaction. This method minimizes storage by only backing up changes and reduces performance impact compared to continuous replication, as log backups are lightweight and can be scheduled without constant I/O overhead.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Perform full backups every 24 hours
Why it's wrong here
Full daily backups provide a maximum RPO of 24 hours, which exceeds the 15-minute requirement.
- ✗
Implement synchronous replication to a standby server
Why it's wrong here
Synchronous replication is a high-availability solution, not a backup method, and can introduce performance overhead; it does not replace backup for data corruption or logical errors.
- ✓
Perform incremental backups with transaction log backups every 15 minutes
Why this is correct
Transaction log backups enable point-in-time recovery to within 15 minutes, meeting the RPO, while incremental backups reduce storage and performance overhead.
- ✗
Perform differential backups every 6 hours
Why it's wrong here
Differential backups still rely on a full backup and do not provide log-level granularity; recovery would be to the last differential, not to a specific point in time within 15 minutes.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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