SAP-C02 Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization Practice Test 24 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company is migrating an on-premises Oracle database to AWS. The database is 2 TB in size and has a low-latency connection to AWS via AWS Direct Connect. The company wants to minimize downtime during the migration. Which AWS service should the architect use for the initial data load?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS). AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) is purpose-built for migrating databases to AWS with minimal downtime, supporting homogeneous and heterogeneous migrations, and it performs the initial full load plus ongoing change data capture (CDC) to keep the target in sync until cutover. For a 2 TB Oracle database over Direct Connect, DMS is the correct choice for the initial data load.

Answer

AWS DataSync

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AWS Snowball Edge

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AWS Server Migration Service (AWS SMS)

Question 2

A company is planning to migrate a large-scale Hadoop cluster to Amazon EMR. The cluster currently processes batch jobs using a mix of MapReduce and Spark. The company wants to minimize changes to the existing code and operational processes. Which migration approach should the architect recommend?

Accepted Answer

Rehost the cluster on Amazon EMR using the same MapReduce and Spark configurations. Rehosting the Hadoop cluster on Amazon EMR with the same MapReduce and Spark configurations minimizes code changes and operational disruption, which is exactly what the company wants. EMR supports both MapReduce and Spark natively, so existing jobs can run with minimal modification. This is the classic lift-and-shift approach for Hadoop-to-EMR migrations.

Answer

Refactor all jobs to use only Apache Spark on Amazon EMR

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Retire the cluster and use Amazon Athena for ad-hoc queries

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Replatform the data processing to use Amazon Redshift Spectrum

Question 3

A company is migrating a legacy e-commerce application to AWS. The application includes a web tier, an application tier, and a MySQL database. The company wants to improve scalability and reduce operational overhead. The architect plans to use Amazon RDS for MySQL and refactor the application to use Auto Scaling for the web and application tiers. However, the application currently stores session state locally on the web servers. What should the architect do to address session state management in the new architecture?

Accepted Answer

Use Amazon ElastiCache for Redis to store session state. Using ElastiCache for Redis provides a centralized, scalable session store that works with Auto Scaling. Using sticky sessions (ELB session stickiness) is a workaround but less scalable and not recommended for Auto Scaling. Storing sessions in RDS would add database load. Storing in S3 is not suitable for low-latency session access.

Answer

Store session state in Amazon S3

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Store session state in Amazon RDS for MySQL

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Configure an Application Load Balancer with sticky sessions

Question 4

A company is migrating its on-premises virtual machines (VMs) to AWS. The company has 50 VMs running various operating systems and applications. The architect wants to use a service that automates the replication and conversion of the VMs to Amazon EC2 instances. Which AWS service should the architect use?

Accepted Answer

AWS Application Migration Service (AWS MGN). AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) is the AWS-recommended service for lift-and-shift migration of on-premises VMs to EC2. It performs continuous block-level replication, automatically converts the source server to run on AWS, and supports a wide range of operating systems and applications with minimal downtime. It replaces the deprecated Server Migration Service.

Answer

AWS DataSync

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AWS Server Migration Service (AWS SMS)

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AWS CloudEndure Migration

Question 5

A company is migrating a critical application to AWS. The application requires a relational database with high availability and automated failover. The company wants to use a fully managed database service. Which AWS service should the architect choose?

Accepted Answer

Amazon RDS Multi-AZ. Amazon RDS Multi-AZ provides a fully managed relational database with synchronous replication to a standby instance in a different Availability Zone and automatic failover, meeting the high availability and automated failover requirements. It is the correct choice for a relational workload needing managed HA.

Answer

Amazon ElastiCache

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Amazon DynamoDB

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Amazon RDS Single-AZ

Question 6

A company is migrating a legacy CRM application from a colocation facility to AWS. The application uses a client-server architecture with a thick client installed on employee desktops. The company wants to reduce desktop administration and provide remote access. Which migration approach should the architect recommend?

Accepted Answer

Deploy the thick client on Amazon WorkSpaces and provide access to employees. Amazon WorkSpaces is a fully managed Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution that hosts a Windows or Linux desktop in the AWS cloud. By deploying the thick client on WorkSpaces, the company eliminates the need to install and maintain the client on each employee's physical desktop, reducing desktop administration overhead. Employees can access their WorkSpaces from any device using a client or web browser, providing secure remote access without requiring a VPN. This directly addresses both goals: reduced desktop administration and remote access.

Answer

Refactor the application into a web application using AWS App Runner

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Rehost the application on Amazon EC2 and provide VPN access to employees

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Retire the application and use a SaaS alternative

Question 7

A company is planning a large-scale migration of hundreds of applications to AWS. Which TWO strategies should the architect consider to reduce migration risks?

Accepted Answer

Use a wave-based migration approach with defined groups and dependencies. Option C is correct because a wave-based migration approach groups applications by dependencies, business criticality, and technical constraints, allowing the company to validate each wave before proceeding and limit the blast radius of any failures across hundreds of applications. Option D is correct because conducting a pilot migration of a small subset of applications lets the architect test the migration process, tooling (e.g., AWS Application Migration Service, AWS Database Migration Service), and runbooks on a low-risk sample, uncovering issues before committing the full portfolio. Option A is not appropriate because applying only rehosting to every application ignores the benefits of replatforming, refactoring, or repurchasing, and can carry forward technical debt and inefficiencies. Option B is incorrect because migrating all applications in a single wave maximizes risk, since a failure in one application or shared dependency can disrupt the entire migration with no incremental validation. Option E is incorrect because rolling back all migrations whenever any single application has issues is an overreactive, all-or-nothing response that would halt progress; instead, issues should be isolated and remediated per application or wave.

Answer

Use only the rehosting strategy for all applications

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Migrate all applications in a single wave to reduce coordination effort

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Roll back all migrations if any application experiences issues

Question 8

A company is migrating a legacy Java application to AWS. The application currently runs on a single on-premises server and uses a MySQL database. The company wants to modernize the application by decoupling components and improving scalability. Which THREE steps should the architect include in the migration plan?

Accepted Answer

Place an Application Load Balancer in front of the application. Option B is correct because placing an Application Load Balancer (ALB) in front of the application enables horizontal scaling, health checks, and distribution of traffic across multiple targets, which directly supports the goal of improving scalability and decoupling the entry point from the compute layer. Option C is correct because refactoring the monolith into microservices deployed on Amazon ECS with Fargate decouples components, allows independent scaling per service, and removes server management overhead, aligning with the modernization objective. Option E is correct because migrating the MySQL database to Amazon RDS for MySQL preserves compatibility with the existing relational schema while offloading patching, backups, and Multi-AZ high availability to AWS, improving scalability and resilience. Option A does not belong because rewriting to a NoSQL database in a single migration step is risky, unnecessary for a MySQL-based app, and contradicts an incremental modernization approach. Option D does not belong because deploying on a single larger EC2 instance is vertical scaling that keeps the application monolithic and does not decouple components or improve scalability.

Answer

Rewrite the application to use a NoSQL database in a single migration step

Answer

Deploy the application on a single larger EC2 instance

Question 9

A company is migrating its on-premises file server to AWS. The file server contains 5 TB of data and is accessed by hundreds of users. The company wants a fully managed file storage solution that supports SMB protocol. Which AWS service should the architect consider?

Accepted Answer

Amazon FSx for Windows File Server. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server is a fully managed file storage service that supports the SMB protocol and is designed for Windows workloads. It integrates with Active Directory and provides features like DFS, shadow copies, and Windows ACLs, making it the correct choice for migrating an on-premises Windows file server.

Answer

Amazon FSx for Lustre

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AWS Storage Gateway File Gateway

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Amazon S3

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Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS)

Question 10

A company plans to migrate a legacy on-premises web application to AWS using the 7 Rs (Rehost, Replatform, etc.). The application has tightly coupled components and unpredictable traffic. The team wants to minimize migration risk and time. Which migration strategy should they use?

Accepted Answer

Rehost (lift-and-shift). Rehost (lift-and-shift) moves the application to AWS with minimal changes, preserving the tightly coupled architecture and avoiding refactoring risk. Because the components are tightly coupled and traffic is unpredictable, re-architecting or replatforming would add time and risk. Rehost is the fastest, lowest-risk path when the goal is to minimize migration risk and time.

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Replatform

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Repurchase

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Retire

Question 11

A company is migrating a large Oracle database to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL using AWS DMS. The database is 5 TB and has frequent write operations. The migration must have minimal downtime. Which configuration should be used?

Accepted Answer

Use AWS DMS with full load and ongoing replication using CDC. AWS DMS with full load and ongoing replication using CDC allows continuous syncing after the full load, minimizing downtime. Option D (full load only) would cause downtime during migration. Option B (AWS DataSync) is for file-based data, not databases. Option C (AWS SCT) is for schema conversion only, not data migration.

Answer

Use AWS DataSync for the database files

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Use AWS SCT to convert schema and then copy data manually

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Use AWS DMS with full load only

Question 12

A company is modernizing a monolithic application into microservices on Amazon ECS. They want to decouple services and improve resilience. Which AWS service should they use for asynchronous communication between microservices?

Accepted Answer

Amazon SQS. Amazon SQS provides a fully managed message queue for asynchronous communication, decoupling services. Option B (Amazon Kinesis Data Streams) is for streaming data. Option C (Amazon API Gateway) is for synchronous REST APIs. Option D (Amazon SNS) is pub/sub, not point-to-point queue.

Answer

Amazon Kinesis Data Streams

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Amazon API Gateway

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Amazon SNS

Question 13

A company is migrating a .NET application from Windows Server to Linux on EC2. The application uses a proprietary COM+ component that cannot be recompiled. Which migration path should they take?

Accepted Answer

Rehost the application on Windows Server EC2 instances. The application uses a proprietary COM+ component that cannot be recompiled, and COM+ is a Windows-specific technology. Therefore, the only viable migration path is to rehost the application on Windows Server EC2 instances, where COM+ is natively supported. Migrating to Linux would require recompilation or emulation, which is not feasible for a proprietary component.

Answer

Rehost the application on Linux EC2 using Wine

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Refactor the COM+ component to a REST API

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Replatform the application to .NET Core and run on Linux

Question 14

A company wants to modernize a batch processing application that runs on EC2 instances using a cron job. The job processes files from an S3 bucket and takes about 2 hours. They want to reduce operational overhead. Which service should they use?

Accepted Answer

AWS Batch. AWS Batch is purpose-built for batch computing workloads, automatically provisioning and managing compute resources (EC2 or Fargate) based on job requirements. It handles job queuing, scheduling, dependency management, and retries, eliminating the need to manage cron jobs or EC2 instances. The 2-hour runtime is well within Batch's capabilities, and it integrates natively with S3 for data input/output. This reduces operational overhead by abstracting infrastructure management while providing cost-effective scaling.

Answer

Amazon ECS with Fargate

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AWS Lambda

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AWS Step Functions

Question 15

During an on-premises to AWS migration using AWS MGN (Application Migration Service), the replication is stuck at 99% for the last few GB. The source server is a Linux database server with a large InnoDB redo log. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

Continuous writes to the database redo logs preventing final sync. AWS MGN uses changed block tracking (CBT) to replicate changed blocks. Large InnoDB redo logs are continuously written, causing constant changes and preventing final sync. Option A (High disk I/O) can slow replication but would not cause a stall at exactly 99%. Option B (source server reboot) is not required after agent installation and would reset replication, not stall at 99%. Option C (insufficient network bandwidth) would affect all stages, not just final sync. Therefore, continuous writes to the redo logs (Option D) is the most likely cause.

Answer

High disk I/O on the source server

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The source server needs reboot after MGN agent installation

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Insufficient network bandwidth between source and AWS