- 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.
Quick Answer
The answer is to create a cross-region read replica of the DB instance in us-west-2. This meets the disaster recovery requirements because cross-region read replicas use asynchronous replication, typically with a lag under one minute, which satisfies the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of less than five minutes. In the event of a region-wide failure, promoting the replica to a standalone primary database can be completed within minutes, achieving the Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of under one hour without needing manual snapshot restoration. On the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner CLF-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how RDS cross-region read replicas provide low RPO/RTO for disaster recovery, often appearing as a distractor against slower options like manual snapshots or Multi-AZ deployments, which only protect within a single region. A helpful memory tip: think “replica for recovery across regions” — if you need a hot standby in another region, a read replica is the only service that gives you both low RPO and fast promotion.
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.
- ✓
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.
- ✗
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.
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
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more ways this is tested on CLF-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company wants to improve the resilience of their Amazon RDS database by ensuring that read traffic is distributed across multiple copies of the database and that a replica can be promoted if the primary fails. Which RDS feature enables this?
medium- A.RDS Multi-AZ deployment
- ✓ B.RDS Read Replicas
- C.RDS Automated Backups
- D.RDS Performance Insights
Why B: Amazon RDS Read Replicas allow you to create one or more copies of your database instance that serve read traffic, offloading read queries from the primary DB instance. In the event of a primary failure, a Read Replica can be manually promoted to a standalone primary instance, providing resilience and continuity for read-heavy workloads. This directly matches the requirement to distribute read traffic and enable replica promotion.
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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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