Backup is not Disaster Recovery: RTO, RPO і second site in practice

How to distinguish backup from DR plan for company servers, ERP, mail, databases і online services.

Свіжий путівник 2026

Backup is not Disaster Recovery: RTO, RPO і second site in practice

Backup answers whether data exists. Disaster Recovery answers how fast company can work again. DR needs RPO, RTO, alternate environment, network, DNS, access, procedure and test, not only copy catalog.

Коротка відповідь

Backup answers whether data exists. Disaster Recovery answers how fast company can work again. DR needs RPO, RTO, alternate environment, network, DNS, access, procedure and test, not only copy catalog.

Backup protects data

Backup has retention, schedule, encryption, reports and restore tests. But it may say nothing about where and how to start application after incident.

DR protects process

Disaster Recovery covers service startup order, minimum resources, network, DNS, firewall, VPN, accounts, certificates, communication and failover decision.

RPO and RTO plainly

RPO says how much data can be lost, while RTO says how long service can be unavailable. Define them separately for ERP, mail, files and web.

Second site

DataHouse can act as second site: backup repository, Cloud Pro, dedicated servers, colocation, private cloud or private colocation room.

Практичний чеклист

  1. Split systems into critical, important and helper groups, and assign business owner to each.
  2. For every system define RPO, RTO, minimal resources, dependencies, accounts and emergency contact path.
  3. Check backup: retention, encryption, monitoring, restore test and deletion protection.
  4. Design DR environment: network, DNS, firewall, VPN, addressing, certificates and service startup order.
  5. Test scenario at least partially and record real recovery time and missing decisions.

Найчастіші питання

Is backup enough as Disaster Recovery?

Not always. If system must recover quickly, you need service, network, DNS, access and responsibility startup plan, not only data copy.

Which matters more: RPO or RTO?

Both matter, but different systems can have different values. ERP database can need different RPO/RTO than website or document archive.

Must second site be full production copy?

Not always. It can be backup repository, standby, private cloud, dedicated server, colocation or staged model by service criticality.