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CCSP Practice Question: A cloud architect is tasked with designing a…
A cloud architect is tasked with designing a disaster recovery plan for a critical application. The recovery time objective (RTO) is 1 hour, and the recovery point objective (RPO) is 15 minutes. The application runs on IaaS with data stored in a relational database. Which replication strategy is MOST cost-effective while meeting the objectives?
⚠ Common exam trap
ISC2 often tests the misconception that synchronous replication is always required for low RPOs, but here the RPO is 15 minutes, which asynchronous replication with snapshots can meet at lower cost, and candidates may incorrectly choose synchronous mirroring due to assuming zero data loss is needed.
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
✓
Asynchronous storage-level replication with 15-minute snapshots
Asynchronous storage-level replication with 15-minute snapshots meets the RPO of 15 minutes and the RTO of 1 hour, while being more cost-effective than synchronous replication. Asynchronous replication avoids the latency and bandwidth costs of synchronous mirroring across regions, and the 15-minute snapshot schedule ensures data loss is limited to the RPO window. This strategy is suitable for IaaS relational databases where near-real-time consistency is acceptable.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Daily full backups to another region
Why it's wrong here
Daily backups result in up to 24 hours of data loss, exceeding the 15-minute RPO.
- ✗
Synchronous database mirroring across regions
Why it's wrong here
Synchronous mirroring is expensive and may impact performance.
- ✗
Multi-region active-active deployment with load balancing
Why it's wrong here
Active-active is complex and costly; not necessary for the given RTO/RPO.
- ✓
Asynchronous storage-level replication with 15-minute snapshots
Why this is correct
Asynchronous replication with frequent snapshots meets the RPO cost-effectively.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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