- A
Deploy a Multi-AZ RDS DB instance in us-east-1.
Why wrong: 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.
- B
Create a cross-region read replica of the DB instance in us-west-2.
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.
- C
Take manual DB snapshots daily and copy them to us-west-2.
Why wrong: 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.
- D
Enable termination protection on the RDS instance.
Why wrong: Termination protection prevents the RDS instance from being accidentally deleted through the console or API. It does not provide any data replication or failover capability across regions and is irrelevant to disaster recovery requirements.
CLF-C02 Cloud Technology and Services Practice Question
This CLF-C02 practice question tests your understanding of cloud technology and services. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
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?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"primary"Why it matters: Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
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.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "primary" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
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 prevents the RDS instance from being accidentally deleted through the console or API. It does not provide any data replication or failover capability across regions and is irrelevant to disaster recovery requirements.
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?”
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is confusing 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.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cross-region read replicas use MySQL's native asynchronous replication (binlog-based) to stream changes from the source DB instance to the replica in another region. The replica can be promoted to a standalone primary in minutes, and the typical replication lag is under 1 minute, making it suitable for sub-5-minute RPO. In a real-world scenario, you would also need to handle application connection failover, such as updating DNS or using a Route 53 failover record, to achieve the full RTO.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Cloud Technology and Services — This question tests Cloud Technology and Services — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: 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.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "primary". Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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