DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
A data engineer is designing a disaster recovery strategy for an Amazon RDS for MySQL database with Multi-AZ deployment. Which THREE actions should the engineer take to meet a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 5 minutes and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 15 minutes? (Choose THREE.)
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 a retention period of 7 days.
To achieve an RPO of 5 minutes and RTO of 15 minutes for an Amazon RDS for MySQL database with Multi-AZ deployment, the engineer should enable automated backups (A) for point-in-time recovery within minutes, create a cross-region read replica (B) for fast failover in another region, and enable Multi-AZ deployment (E) for automatic failover within the same region. Option C (Single-AZ) would not provide high availability, and option D (exporting snapshots to S3) is too slow for the required 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 a retention period of 7 days.
Why this is correct
Automated backups allow point-in-time recovery within the retention window, helping meet RPO.
- ✓
Create a cross-region read replica to another AWS region.
Why this is correct
A cross-region replica can be promoted to a primary database quickly, meeting RTO and RPO.
- ✗
Configure the DB instance to be Single-AZ for simplicity.
Why it's wrong here
Single-AZ does not provide high availability and would increase RTO.
- ✗
Export automated snapshots to an S3 bucket in a different region.
Why it's wrong here
Restoring from a snapshot takes longer than promoting a read replica, likely not meeting RTO.
- ✓
Enable Multi-AZ deployment for automatic failover.
Why this is correct
Multi-AZ deployment for Amazon RDS MySQL provides automatic synchronous replication to a standby instance in a different Availability Zone, enabling automated failover without manual intervention. This directly satisfies the 15-minute RTO constraint by minimising database downtime during an Availability Zone failure, as the standby becomes primary within minutes. The synchronous replication also ensures zero data loss during failover, supporting the 5-minute RPO requirement.
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 |
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
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