This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data store management. 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 is migrating its on-premises Oracle database to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL. The migration must have minimal downtime. The source database is 2 TB and runs on a single server. Which AWS service should be used for the migration?
AWS DataSync
Why wrong: DataSync is for file-based data transfer.
Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration
Why wrong: S3 is not for database migration.
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
DMS provides minimal downtime migration with change data capture.
AWS Snowball Edge
Why wrong: Snowball is for offline transfer, not minimal downtime.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) is the correct choice because it supports homogeneous migrations from Oracle to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL with minimal downtime using ongoing replication (change data capture). DMS can handle a 2 TB source database by performing a full load followed by continuous replication of changes from the Oracle redo logs, allowing the target Aurora database to stay nearly in sync until cutover.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
AWS DataSync
Why it's wrong here
DataSync is for file-based data transfer.
Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration
Why it's wrong here
S3 is not for database migration.
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
Why this is correct
DMS provides minimal downtime migration with change data capture.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS Snowball Edge
Why it's wrong here
Snowball is for offline transfer, not minimal downtime.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates may confuse AWS DataSync or Snowball Edge as viable for database migrations because they handle large data volumes, but they lack the schema conversion and ongoing replication capabilities required for minimal-downtime database migrations.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, DMS uses a replication instance that connects to the source Oracle database via Oracle LogMiner or binary reader to capture changes from redo logs, and applies them to Aurora PostgreSQL using native PostgreSQL interfaces. For a 2 TB database, DMS can parallelize the full load by splitting tables into multiple tasks, and the ongoing replication lag can be reduced to seconds by tuning the replication instance size and network bandwidth. A real-world scenario where this matters is when the company has strict RTO/RPO requirements, as DMS allows a cutover window of minutes rather than hours.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Data Store Management — This question tests Data Store Management — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) — AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) is the correct choice because it supports homogeneous migrations from Oracle to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL with minimal downtime using ongoing replication (change data capture). DMS can handle a 2 TB source database by performing a full load followed by continuous replication of changes from the Oracle redo logs, allowing the target Aurora database to stay nearly in sync until cutover.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
This DEA-C01 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 DEA-C01 exam.
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