What is RPO and RTO?

RPO, or Recovery Point Objective, defines how much data loss the business can tolerate, expressed as a time interval. RTO, or Recovery Time Objective, defines how long the service can remain unavailable before it must be restored.

For example, an RPO of 15 minutes may require sufficiently frequent log backups or replication technology, while a strict RTO may require tested automation, high availability, fast storage, or standby infrastructure.

Backup and high-availability architecture should be designed from RPO and RTO requirements.