Disaster recovery and cloud backups
RTO, RPO, and runbooks in plain language — how Melbourne businesses plan recovery when servers, sites, or Microsoft 365 fail.
RPO and RTO defined
Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is how much data you can afford to lose — measured in time since last good backup. Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is how fast systems must be back online. A four-hour RTO with 24-hour RPO is common for SMEs; tighten targets for finance or operations-critical systems.
Scenarios to plan for
Ransomware, fire or theft of a server, Microsoft 365 admin mistakes, domain hijacking, and extended ISP outages. Each scenario needs a named owner, communication list, and technical steps — not a binder nobody has opened since 2019.
Cloud-specific considerations
Know how to restore mailboxes, SharePoint libraries, and Azure VMs from backup consoles — not only from recycle bins. Keep offline admin credentials and document which vendor holds DNS registration.
Exercise the plan
Tabletop walkthroughs take an hour; live restore tests take longer but expose gaps. Update the runbook when you add a site, change accounting software, or move files to a new SharePoint library.
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