Which objective specifies how much time is acceptable for system recovery, highlighting tolerable downtime?

The objective that specifies how much time is acceptable for system recovery, highlighting the tolerable downtime, is the Recovery Time Objective (RTO). RTO defines the maximum allowable time that a system can be down after a failure occurs. This metric is crucial for organizations to understand because it directly impacts business continuity and operational resilience. Establishing an RTO helps organizations prioritize recovery efforts, ensuring that critical systems are restored within an acceptable timeframe so that business operations can resume with minimal disruption.

In the context of disaster recovery and incident response planning, RTO is used to set clear expectations for system restoration timelines. It fundamentally influences decisions around resource allocation, disaster recovery strategies, and the design of redundant systems or processes. Organizations often perform risk assessments to determine acceptable RTOs based on the criticality of different systems and the potential impact of downtime on the business.

While other terms like Recovery Point Objective (RPO) focus on acceptable data loss metrics, or Recovery Service Level (RSL) relates to the levels of service agreed upon for recovery, RTO specifically addresses the time aspect of recovery, making it the pertinent choice for the question regarding acceptable downtime during system recovery.