DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A data engineer is designing a multi-region disaster recovery solution for Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL. The primary region must have a standby in a different Availability Zone, and the secondary region must have a readable replica that can be promoted in case of failure. Which configuration meets these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse Multi-AZ (synchronous, for high availability within a region) with cross-region read replicas (asynchronous, for disaster recovery), and may incorrectly assume that Multi-AZ alone provides cross-region failover or that a single-AZ primary with a read replica satisfies the intra-region standby requirement.
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 Multi-AZ in the primary region and create a cross-region read replica
It meets both requirements: Multi-AZ in the primary region provides a synchronous standby in a different Availability Zone for high availability, and a cross-region read replica in the secondary region provides an asynchronous, readable copy that can be promoted to a standalone primary during a regional failure. This combination ensures both intra-region fault tolerance and inter-region disaster recovery.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use a single-AZ primary and enable automatic backups
Why it's wrong here
Automatic backups provide point-in-time restore within one region only; they create no standby in a second Availability Zone and no cross-region readable replica, so neither the multi-AZ nor the multi-region promotion requirement is met. Backups suit accidental-deletion recovery, not disaster recovery topologies.
- ✓
Enable Multi-AZ in the primary region and create a cross-region read replica
Why this is correct
Multi-AZ maintains a synchronous standby in a separate Availability Zone for automatic failover, while a cross-region read replica provides a readable copy in the secondary region that can be promoted. Together they satisfy both the in-region standby and cross-region readable replica constraints.
- ✗
Use a single-AZ primary and create a cross-region read replica
Why it's wrong here
A cross-region read replica supplies the secondary region, but a single-AZ primary has no standby in a separate Availability Zone, so the first requirement fails. This configuration suits read scaling or regional failover when synchronous in-region redundancy is not mandated.
- ✗
Enable Multi-AZ in both primary and secondary regions
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ maintains a synchronous standby only within one region; it cannot create the cross-region readable replica the stem demands. It is tempting because Multi-AZ is the standard answer for high availability, and it would be correct if the requirement were a same-region standby with automatic failover rather than a promotable replica in a second region.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 1,321 original DEA-C01 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.