CLF-C02 Cloud Technology and Services Practice Question
A company runs its primary database on an Amazon RDS for MySQL DB instance in the us-east-1 Region. The company's disaster recovery policy requires that the database be recoverable in a different AWS Region within 1 hour of a region-wide failure, with a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of less than 5 minutes and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of less than 1 hour. Which AWS feature should the company use to meet these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse Multi-AZ (single-region high availability) with cross-region disaster recovery, leading candidates to choose Option A because they think 'redundancy' automatically means cross-region protection.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create a cross-region read replica of the DB instance in us-west-2.
A cross-region read replica in us-west-2 meets the RPO of less than 5 minutes because replication is asynchronous with a lag typically under 1 minute, and the RTO of less than 1 hour is achievable by promoting the replica to a standalone primary in the event of a region-wide failure. This approach provides a ready-to-use database copy in another region without the need for manual snapshot restoration.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Deploy a Multi-AZ RDS DB instance in us-east-1.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ provides automatic failover to a standby instance in a different Availability Zone within the same region. It does not provide protection against a region-wide outage because the standby is still in the same region. This option does not meet the cross-region DR requirement.
When this WOULD be correct
If the requirement were for high availability within the same region to withstand an Availability Zone failure, with an RPO of seconds and RTO of minutes, Multi-AZ RDS would be the correct choice.
- ✓
Create a cross-region read replica of the DB instance in us-west-2.
Why this is correct
A cross-region read replica asynchronously replicates data from the primary RDS instance to a replica in another region. The replica can be promoted to a standalone primary instance in minutes, achieving an RTO under 1 hour. As replication is near real-time, the RPO is typically a few seconds to minutes, satisfying the <5 minute RPO. This is the correct solution.
- ✗
Take manual DB snapshots daily and copy them to us-west-2.
Why it's wrong here
Manual snapshots are taken at discrete points in time (daily), so the RPO is up to 24 hours, which exceeds the required 5 minutes. Restoring from a snapshot also takes time, which may push the RTO beyond 1 hour. This option does not meet the stated RPO and RTO targets.
When this WOULD be correct
If the RPO requirement were relaxed to 24 hours and the RTO to several hours, manual daily snapshots copied to another region would be a cost-effective disaster recovery solution. This is suitable for non-critical databases where data loss of up to a day is acceptable.
- ✗
Enable termination protection on the RDS instance.
Why it's wrong here
Termination protection is a safety feature that prevents accidental deletion of an RDS instance via the AWS Management Console, CLI, or API. It has no effect on data replication, failover, or regional availability. Enabling it does not create a secondary copy of the database in another region, nor does it reduce recovery time or data loss in the event of a region-wide outage. Therefore, it is entirely irrelevant to meeting the RPO of less than 5 minutes or the RTO of under 1 hour for cross-region disaster recovery.
When this WOULD be correct
A company wants to prevent accidental deletion of a production RDS instance while allowing authorized users to delete it after disabling the protection. The question would ask for a safeguard against unintentional termination, not for disaster recovery.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The CLF-C02 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓Create a cross-region read replica of the DB instance in us-west-2.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
A cross-region read replica asynchronously replicates data from the primary RDS instance to a replica in another region. The replica can be promoted to a standalone primary instance in minutes, achieving an RTO under 1 hour. As replication is near real-time, the RPO is typically a few seconds to minutes, satisfying the <5 minute RPO. This is the correct solution.
✗Deploy a Multi-AZ RDS DB instance in us-east-1.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Multi-AZ RDS provides high availability within a single region, not cross-region disaster recovery. It cannot meet the requirement of recovering in a different AWS Region.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the requirement were for high availability within the same region to withstand an Availability Zone failure, with an RPO of seconds and RTO of minutes, Multi-AZ RDS would be the correct choice.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse Multi-AZ with cross-region disaster recovery, assuming it provides regional failover, or they may not fully understand that Multi-AZ is limited to a single region.
✗Take manual DB snapshots daily and copy them to us-west-2.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Manual daily snapshots would result in an RPO of up to 24 hours, far exceeding the required 5 minutes. Additionally, restoring from a snapshot typically takes longer than 1 hour, failing the RTO requirement.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the RPO requirement were relaxed to 24 hours and the RTO to several hours, manual daily snapshots copied to another region would be a cost-effective disaster recovery solution. This is suitable for non-critical databases where data loss of up to a day is acceptable.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that daily snapshots are sufficient for disaster recovery and overlook the strict RPO and RTO requirements, or they may not be aware that cross-region read replicas can provide near-real-time replication and faster failover.
✗Enable termination protection on the RDS instance.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Termination protection prevents accidental deletion of the RDS instance but does not provide cross-region disaster recovery, replication, or meet the RPO of less than 5 minutes and RTO of less than 1 hour.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company wants to prevent accidental deletion of a production RDS instance while allowing authorized users to delete it after disabling the protection. The question would ask for a safeguard against unintentional termination, not for disaster recovery.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse termination protection with a disaster recovery feature, thinking it helps recover from region failures, or they may misread the question as asking about preventing data loss from accidental deletion.
Analysis generated from the official CLF-C02blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CLF-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CLF-C02 exam.