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Cloud Computing · Intermediate

Pilot Light

DR strategy keeping a minimal core of critical systems, such as replicated databases, running in the recovery region, scaled up during disaster.

Definition

In pilot light, data is continuously replicated and core infrastructure is provisioned but application servers are off or not created until needed. During a disaster, servers are launched from AMIs or templates and scaled to production size, giving RTOs typically in tens of minutes at low ongoing cost.

Example

A database replica runs in us-west-2 while web servers exist only as AMIs and launch templates until failover.

Exam tip

Pilot light: data live, compute off. Warm standby: scaled-down but fully functional copy running.

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