5.2d business impact analysis

RTO (Recovery Time Objective)

The time frame required to get back up and running after an outage. Measures TIME: how long until systems recover.

RPO (Recovery Point Objective)

The point in time data must be restored to before an organization considers itself operational. Measures DATA: how much data loss is acceptable.

RTO vs RPO

RTO answers "when will we recover?" (time-based). RPO answers "how much data can we afford to lose?" (data-based).

RTO and site tiers

A tight RTO demands a hot site (minutes to activate). A looser RTO can use a warm or cold site (hours to days acceptable).

MTTR (Mean Time To Repair)

The average time it takes to resolve a problem, including diagnosis, obtaining replacement equipment, installation, and configuration.

MTTR reduction strategies

Spending more upfront (spare equipment on-site, vendor SLA guaranteeing fast replacement) reduces MTTR at the cost of higher standing investment.

MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)

The estimated or historical time a system runs before experiencing another failure; used to assess equipment reliability risk.

MTBF calculation

MTBF = total uptime divided by total number of breakdowns.

MTTR vs MTBF

MTTR measures recoverability, how long to fix something once it breaks. MTBF measures reliability, how long something runs before breaking.