DBS-C01 Deployment and Migration Practice Question
A company is deploying Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL and needs to ensure that all data at rest is encrypted. Which action should be taken to enable encryption?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to assume encryption can be toggled on after creation (like enabling encryption on an existing EBS volume), but RDS requires encryption to be set at launch time, and modifying an existing instance does not offer this option.
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
✓
Specify an AWS KMS key when creating the RDS instance.
Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL supports encryption at rest using AWS Key Management Service (KMS). Encryption must be enabled at instance creation time by specifying an AWS KMS key; it cannot be enabled on an existing unencrypted instance. This ensures that the underlying storage, automated backups, read replicas, and snapshots are encrypted using the chosen KMS key.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Specify an AWS KMS key when creating the RDS instance.
Why this is correct
RDS encryption uses KMS keys and must be set at creation.
- ✗
Modify the existing RDS instance to enable encryption.
Why it's wrong here
Cannot enable encryption on an existing instance; must restore from snapshot.
- ✗
Enable encryption by default in the RDS console.
Why it's wrong here
Encryption at rest is not enabled by default; must be explicitly specified.
- ✗
Enable encryption using S3 server-side encryption.
Why it's wrong here
S3 SSE is not applicable to RDS; use RDS encryption with KMS.
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 |
Go deeper
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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.