DBS-C01 Deployment and Migration Practice Question
A company has an Amazon RDS for MySQL database with Multi-AZ deployment. The database is experiencing high CPU utilization due to a reporting workload. The company wants to migrate to Amazon Aurora MySQL to improve performance and scalability. The migration must have minimal downtime. Which migration strategy meets these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates assume AWS DMS is the only way to achieve minimal downtime, but the native Aurora replica feature provides a simpler and faster migration path with even lower downtime when the source engine is compatible.
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 an Aurora MySQL replica from the RDS MySQL instance and promote it
Creating an Aurora MySQL replica from an existing RDS MySQL instance uses the native MySQL replication protocol to perform an online migration with minimal downtime. Once the replica is fully synchronized, you can promote it to become a standalone Aurora cluster, which provides better performance and scalability for the reporting workload.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create an Aurora MySQL replica from the RDS MySQL instance and promote it
Why this is correct
This allows minimal downtime and uses native replication.
- ✗
Take a snapshot of the RDS instance and restore it to an Aurora cluster
Why it's wrong here
Snapshot restore requires downtime and does not capture ongoing changes.
- ✗
Migrate to a larger RDS MySQL instance to handle the workload
Why it's wrong here
This keeps the workload on RDS, not Aurora.
- ✗
Use AWS DMS with full load and ongoing replication
Why it's wrong here
While AWS DMS with full load and ongoing replication is excellent for migrating to Aurora MySQL with minimal downtime, it doesn't address the *root cause* of the high CPU utilization from the reporting workload. This strategy would successfully move the data, but the reporting queries themselves would likely continue to strain the Aurora instance, potentially negating the performance benefits. It's tempting because it's the standard, low-downtime migration method.
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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.