CLF-C02 Cloud Technology and Services Practice Question
A company needs a relational database that automatically scales storage, replicates data across multiple AZs, and can failover automatically without manual intervention. Which AWS service provides these capabilities?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse DynamoDB's built-in Multi-AZ replication and auto-scaling with relational database capabilities, overlooking the explicit requirement for a relational database in the question.
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
✓
Amazon RDS with Multi-AZ deployment
Amazon RDS with Multi-AZ deployment automatically provisions and maintains a synchronous standby replica in a different Availability Zone. This setup provides automatic failover to the standby without manual intervention, and storage scaling can be handled via Amazon EBS or Aurora storage auto-scaling, meeting all stated requirements.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon DynamoDB
Why it's wrong here
Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL database that stores data as key-value pairs or documents, without support for relational SQL queries, joins, or complex multi-table transactions. While it offers excellent scalability and low-latency performance, its flexible schema does not fit traditional normalized relational designs. For an application that relies on relational features such as ACID transactions across multiple related tables, DynamoDB is not the correct choice.
- ✓
Amazon RDS with Multi-AZ deployment
Why this is correct
Amazon RDS with Multi-AZ deployment synchronously replicates your database to a standby instance in a different Availability Zone, providing automatic failover without manual intervention. In the event of an infrastructure outage or instance failure, the service automatically flips the DNS record to the standby, ensuring database continuity for your application. This fully managed relational service supports ACID transactions and familiar SQL, making it the correct choice for an OLTP workload that requires high availability.
- ✗
Amazon Redshift
Why it's wrong here
Amazon Redshift is a columnar, petabyte-scale data warehouse built for complex analytical queries (OLAP), not for transactional (OLTP) workloads that require frequent, low-latency data modifications. Its columnar storage and massively parallel processing are optimized for aggregations and large scans, not for point updates or single-row inserts. Moreover, Redshift lacks the same synchronous standby replication and automatic failover capability that RDS Multi-AZ provides, so it is not a suitable replacement for a relational database with continuity requirements.
- ✗
Amazon ElastiCache for Redis
Why it's wrong here
Amazon ElastiCache for Redis is an in-memory key-value store typically used as a caching layer or session store, not as a durable relational database. Data stored in Redis is volatile and, unless explicit snapshots are taken, can be lost on node failure, so it cannot provide the transactional durability expected from a primary database. It also does not support SQL or relational schemas, and while it can boost read performance by caching, it is not an appropriate substitute for a relational database.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
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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.