DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
A company is running a critical Amazon RDS for MySQL database. They need to implement a backup strategy that allows point-in-time recovery (PITR) with a recovery time objective (RTO) of 15 minutes and a recovery point objective (RPO) of 5 minutes. Which solution meets these requirements?
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
✓
Enable automated backups with 1-day retention and enable Multi-AZ deployment
Automated backups enable point-in-time recovery using transaction logs that record changes every 5 minutes, achieving an RPO of 5 minutes. Multi-AZ deployment provides automatic failover to a standby instance, achieving an RTO of typically 1-2 minutes, well within the 15-minute RTO. Option B is incorrect because cross-Region automated backups replicate data to another region, but the promotion of a replica in another region can take longer than 15 minutes, and replication lag may cause RPO to exceed 5 minutes. Option C is incorrect because manual snapshots are taken at specific points in time and do not include transaction logs; even if taken every 5 minutes, restoring from a snapshot would not provide point-in-time recovery to any point within those 5 minutes, and the restore time is typically longer than 15 minutes. Option D is incorrect because a Read Replica is an asynchronous copy; promoting a read replica to a primary instance can take several minutes, and the RPO may be higher due to replication lag, thus not meeting the 5-minute RPO or 15-minute RTO.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Enable automated backups with 1-day retention and enable Multi-AZ deployment
Why this is correct
Automated backups provide transaction logs every 5 minutes; Multi-AZ failover is fast.
- ✗
Use cross-Region automated backups and promote the replica
Why it's wrong here
Cross-Region replication has higher latency.
- ✗
Take manual snapshots every 5 minutes and restore from the latest snapshot
Why it's wrong here
Snapshots take time and cannot be taken every 5 minutes.
- ✗
Enable a Read Replica and promote it during a disaster
Why it's wrong here
Read Replicas are not for failover and may have replication lag.
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