Dynamically selecting optimal instance type for disaster recovery in the cloud

A non-transitory storage medium having stored therein computer-executable instructions which, when executed by one or more hardware processors, perform the operations:

• performing a VM restore instance type discovery process at a production site;
• creating a test VM with a VM restore instance type that matches a VM restore instance type identified during performance of the discovery process;
• using the test VM as a basis to create a test restore VM at a cloud storage site;
• restoring the test VM at the cloud storage site using the test restore VM;
• generating a 4-D baseline vector based on the restoration of the test VM, the 4-D baseline vector identifying a particular VM restore instance type;
• generating a 5-D vector based on the 4-D baseline vector;
• ranking the 5-D vector relative to one or more other 5-D vectors, all of the 5-D vectors identifying the same production site VM;
• and
• restoring, at the cloud storage site, the production site VM identified in the 5-D vectors, and the production site VM restored at the cloud storage site has a VM restore instance type identified in the highest ranked 5-D vector.