DBS-C01 Database Security Practice Question
A company has a production Amazon RDS for SQL Server database that stores financial data. The database administrator wants to audit all access to sensitive columns (e.g., credit card numbers) using the SQL Server Audit feature. The database is part of a Multi-AZ deployment. The administrator has enabled audit logging to the 'DEFAULT' file audit target, but the audit files are being written to the local instance storage and are not being retained after failover. The compliance team requires that audit logs be stored in Amazon S3 for at least 7 years. The administrator has set up an event subscription to send database events to an S3 bucket using AWS DMS, but the audit logs are not being captured. What should the administrator do to meet the compliance requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse RDS event subscriptions (which send metadata events) with actual audit log delivery, or assume DMS can replicate arbitrary file output, when in fact only the native S3 audit target persists SQL Server Audit logs in a durable, compliant manner.
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
✓
Create a new SQL Server Audit target using the Amazon S3 option and configure the audit to write to an S3 bucket.
Amazon RDS for SQL Server supports writing SQL Server Audit logs directly to an Amazon S3 bucket as an audit target. This is the only native method that persists audit logs beyond the instance lifecycle, ensuring they survive Multi-AZ failover and meet the 7-year retention requirement. The DEFAULT file target writes to ephemeral instance storage, which is lost on failover, and RDS event subscriptions or DMS cannot capture SQL Server Audit output.
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 RDS event subscriptions to send database audit logs to an S3 bucket.
Why it's wrong here
Event subscriptions send database events (e.g., failover, backup) not audit logs.
- ✗
Configure AWS DMS to continuously replicate the audit database to an S3 bucket.
Why it's wrong here
DMS is designed for data migration, not for capturing audit logs.
- ✓
Create a new SQL Server Audit target using the Amazon S3 option and configure the audit to write to an S3 bucket.
Why this is correct
RDS for SQL Server supports custom audit targets to S3, allowing persistent storage of audit logs.
- ✗
Enable RDS Enhanced Monitoring and configure it to send logs to CloudWatch Logs.
Why it's wrong here
Enhanced Monitoring provides OS metrics, not SQL Server Audit logs.
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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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DBS-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 DBS-C01 exam.