Failover Readiness RTO/RPO Planner

Planning for recovery time and data loss

Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is the maximum acceptable time to restore service after an outage. It combines detection, decision-making, restore operations, and validation before users are back online. Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is the maximum acceptable data loss measured in time. RPO depends on how frequently you back up and how you replicate data between sites.

Synchronous replication can achieve near-zero RPO because writes are committed to both sites at the same time. Asynchronous replication introduces a lag that represents potential data loss in a failover. If there is no replication, RPO is driven by backup frequency, which can be measured in hours for traditional nightly jobs or in minutes for more aggressive schedules. This planner models those tradeoffs with simple inputs so you can quickly see how operational choices affect recovery targets.

The system tier selector provides context for interpretation. Noncritical systems often tolerate higher RTO and RPO, while mission-critical systems demand low recovery targets and stricter operational discipline. Use the suggestions list to identify the biggest drivers of your RTO and RPO. In many environments, detection and decision time can be reduced with monitoring and automation, while restore time is improved with faster backups or warm standby infrastructure.

This calculator is a planning tool and does not replace a disaster recovery runbook. Real-world recovery depends on staffing, incident response procedures, application complexity, and dependencies. Use this tool to estimate your current posture, set improvement goals, and communicate tradeoffs to stakeholders. All results are computed locally in your browser for privacy.

Formula

RTO: detection + decision + restore + validation

RPO (sync): approximately 0 minutes

RPO (async): replication lag

RPO (none): backup frequency

Example calculation

If detection is 5 minutes, decision is 10 minutes, restore is 45 minutes, and validation is 15 minutes, then RTO is 5 + 10 + 45 + 15 = 75 minutes (1 hour 15 minutes).

With async replication lag of 10 minutes, RPO is 10 minutes. If replication were disabled and backups ran every 60 minutes, RPO would be 60 minutes instead.

FAQs

What is RTO?

RTO is the target time to restore service after an outage.

What is RPO?

RPO is the maximum acceptable data loss measured in time.

How does replication mode affect RPO?

Sync approaches zero, async uses lag, and none uses backup frequency.

Does this replace a DR runbook?

No. Use this as a planning estimate and validate with drills.

Is this private?

Yes. All calculations run locally.

How it works

This tool sums recovery time components for RTO and selects RPO based on replication mode and backup frequency.

Disclaimer

RTO/RPO estimates depend on real-world procedures and infrastructure. Validate with recovery testing.