DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
A company has an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL DB instance with automated backups enabled. The retention period is set to 7 days. A developer accidentally performed a DROP TABLE operation on a critical table 2 days ago. How can the table be recovered with minimal data loss?
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
✓
Perform a point-in-time restore to a time just before the DROP TABLE operation.
The correct approach is to perform a point-in-time restore (PITR) to a time just before the DROP TABLE operation. RDS for PostgreSQL with automated backups enabled supports PITR within the backup retention period (7 days). Since the table was dropped 2 days ago, restoring the DB instance to a point in time just before the drop will recover the table with minimal data loss. Option B (pg_dump) is not a suitable recovery method because it requires a pre-existing backup; it cannot generate a backup retroactively. Option C (creating a read replica and promoting it) would create a copy of the current state, which already lacks the dropped table, so it does not help. Option D (restore from oldest automated snapshot) would revert the entire database to a 7-day-old state, losing all changes made in the last 7 days, including the table that was dropped only 2 days ago, resulting in greater data loss.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Perform a point-in-time restore to a time just before the DROP TABLE operation.
Why this is correct
PITR allows recovery to any point within the retention period.
- ✗
Use the pg_dump utility to create a manual backup and restore it.
Why it's wrong here
pg_dump would not have a backup from before the drop.
- ✗
Create a read replica of the DB instance and promote it to a standalone instance.
Why it's wrong here
Read replica would also have the dropped table.
- ✗
Restore the DB instance from the oldest automated snapshot.
Why it's wrong here
Oldest snapshot would lose data from the last 7 days.
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