CCSP Cloud Concepts, Architecture and Design Practice Question
This CCSP practice question tests your understanding of cloud concepts, architecture and design. Compare every option against the stated constraints before choosing — the best answer satisfies all requirements, not just the most obvious one. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A cloud architect is designing a disaster recovery plan for a financial application with RTO of 15 minutes and RPO of 5 minutes. Which recovery strategy is most appropriate?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Multi-region active-active
Multi-region active-active is the only strategy that can meet both a 15-minute RTO and a 5-minute RPO because it maintains synchronous or near-synchronous replication between two or more regions, allowing traffic to be instantly redirected with zero or minimal data loss. This approach eliminates the recovery time needed to spin up infrastructure or restore data, as the application is already fully operational in multiple regions.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
Multi-region active-active
Why this is correct
Multi-region active-active provides continuous replication and instant failover, meeting both RTO and RPO.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Backup and restore
Why it's wrong here
Backup and restore typically has RTO of hours and RPO of hours, far exceeding requirements.
✗
Pilot light
Why it's wrong here
Pilot light can achieve RPO of minutes but RTO is often longer than 15 minutes.
✗
Warm standby
Why it's wrong here
Warm standby can achieve RPO of minutes and RTO of minutes, but RPO may be close to 5 minutes and RTO may exceed 15 minutes.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
ISC2 often tests the distinction between RTO and RPO by presenting a scenario where candidates confuse warm standby (which can meet a low RTO but not a tight RPO) with active-active, leading them to choose warm standby despite its inability to guarantee the 5-minute RPO.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Active-active architectures often use synchronous database replication (e.g., MySQL Group Replication or Oracle Active Data Guard with maximum protection mode) to ensure zero data loss, combined with global load balancers like AWS Global Accelerator or Azure Traffic Manager for instant failover. The 5-minute RPO demands near-continuous replication, which active-active provides by keeping all regions in a consistent state, whereas asynchronous replication in warm standby or pilot light can introduce lag exceeding the RPO during peak loads.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A security analyst at a medium-sized enterprise encounters this scenario during an investigation or architecture review. The correct answer reflects best practice for the specific threat or control described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Security exam questions test whether you can match controls to threats in context — not just recall definitions.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Cloud Concepts, Architecture and Design — This question tests Cloud Concepts, Architecture and Design — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Multi-region active-active — Multi-region active-active is the only strategy that can meet both a 15-minute RTO and a 5-minute RPO because it maintains synchronous or near-synchronous replication between two or more regions, allowing traffic to be instantly redirected with zero or minimal data loss. This approach eliminates the recovery time needed to spin up infrastructure or restore data, as the application is already fully operational in multiple regions.
What should I do if I get this CCSP question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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This CCSP practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 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 CCSP exam.
Question Discussion
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