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During a recent discussion on disaster recovery strategies, someone asked me a question that had me thinking:
“If you need RPO measured in single seconds, why not just run Active-Active?”
It’s a fair question. On the surface, Active-Active seems like the obvious way to achieve near-zero data loss. But when you look deeper, it’s clear the two approaches, Active-Active and DRaaS, solve different problems.
Active-Active shines in scenarios where systems simply can’t go down AND are lightweight, think authentication services like Active Directory or DNS. Running fully redundant environments across sites gives you instant failover and uninterrupted operations. The downside? Cost and complexity. You’re effectively paying for two production environments, managing constant data synchronization, and navigating application compatibility challenges. Does enjoy managing active-active cross-site deployments for write heavy SQL Server, not to mention the extra licensing costs? Beyond the management complexity, you’re facing a hidden risk; Data corruption replicates everywhere, instantly.
That’s where DRaaS earns its place. For workloads where uptime is important but full duplication isn’t practical, DRaaS delivers sub-second RPOs without doubling your infrastructure or licensing costs. Add in modern advantages like point-in-time rollback, clean recovery networks after cyber incidents, non-disruptive testing, and built-in malware or corruption detection, and it becomes clear DRaaS is far more than simple data replication. It’s intelligent resilience.
In reality, true protection isn’t an either/or decision. The best strategies combine all three layers: synchronous replication (Active-Active) for uptime, asynchronous replication (DRaaS) for recoverability, andadata backup solution for long-term retention and recovery. Active-Active has its moments to shine, but you can’t replace a great DRaaS solution, or a healthy dose of redundancy-driven paranoia.
OTAVA’s approach to disaster recovery isn’t just about failover; it’s part of a bigger, smarter, and layered security strategy. Our S.E.C.U.R.E.™ Framework brings structure to chaos with six integrated components. DRaaS sits squarely in the Recover phase, but its full value emerges when combined with layers such as Undo (backups, point-in-time rollback, and post-attack isolation), Contain (malware and anomaly detection), and Evaluate (ongoing risk assessments and recovery testing).
Smart Disaster Recovery (DR) focuses not only on uptime but also on recovery speed, smooth restoration, and maintaining confidence during crises by implementing the appropriate tools in advance.
Want to test how well your current DR solution performs under pressure? Our experts can help evaluate your environment and spot hidden risks—before they become business problems.
-Chris Barylski, Senior Product Manager
