DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A data engineer is migrating an on-premises MongoDB database to Amazon DocumentDB. Which migration strategy minimizes downtime?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often assume any AWS DMS migration automatically minimizes downtime, but only the full load plus ongoing replication (CDC) option achieves near-zero downtime, while full load only still requires a write stop.
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
✓
Use AWS DMS with full load and ongoing replication from MongoDB to DocumentDB.
AWS DMS with full load and ongoing replication (change data capture) minimizes downtime by continuously synchronizing changes from the source MongoDB to the target DocumentDB after the initial full load, allowing a cutover with only a brief pause. This is the only option that supports near-zero downtime migration for live databases.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Take a snapshot of the MongoDB database and restore it to DocumentDB.
Why it's wrong here
Snapshot-and-restore requires taking the source offline for the duration of the copy, so writes during migration are lost or blocked, producing extended downtime. It suits small, static datasets or one-off test refreshes where an outage window is acceptable, not a live cutover needing continuous replication via AWS DMS.
- ✗
Use AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) with full load only.
Why it's wrong here
A full-load-only migration captures a point-in-time snapshot but lacks ongoing change data capture (CDC), so it cannot synchronise writes occurring during the transfer. This fails the minimised-downtime requirement because the source must be quiesced or cut over with a hard stop. It is tempting because AWS DMS full load is simple and fast for static datasets, and would be correct when the database can tolerate an offline window.
- ✗
Export data using mongodump and import using mongorestore.
Why it's wrong here
mongodump and mongorestore copy a point-in-time snapshot, so writes during the export are lost and cutover downtime spans the whole transfer. It is tempting because these tools are simple and work well for small, offline datasets where downtime is acceptable, unlike continuous replication strategies.
- ✓
Use AWS DMS with full load and ongoing replication from MongoDB to DocumentDB.
Why this is correct
AWS DMS performs a full load then applies ongoing change data capture replication from MongoDB to DocumentDB, keeping the target continuously synchronised until cutover. This continuous replication is what minimises downtime compared with one-off dump-and-restore migrations.
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