The RTO (Recovery Time Objective) is the maximum acceptable duration of interruption. More specifically, it refers to the maximum time interval between the notification of the incident and the normal resumption of service.

The RTO is determined based on business needs and the amount of downtime the company can tolerate. It’s possible to define a different RTO for different machines within the scope of the DRP. Indeed, an application necessary for the company’s production may need to have a shorter RTO, while another less critical server may have a longer RTO.

For example: an ERP necessary for production should have a shorter RTO than a documentation server, which is a less critical application for the company’s activities.

Another factor to analyze when defining the RTO is the size of the machines to be restored and restarted, as restoration times can be longer.