DBS-C01 Recovery Point Objective (RPO) Practice Question
A company is designing a disaster recovery plan for an Amazon RDS for MySQL database. The database must have a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of less than 5 minutes and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of less than 1 hour. Which TWO actions should be taken? (Choose two.)
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
✓
Deploy the database in a Multi-AZ configuration.
(Multi-AZ configuration) provides automatic synchronous replication to a standby instance in a different Availability Zone. In the event of a failure, automatic failover occurs within minutes, achieving an RTO of less than 1 hour and an RPO of effectively zero. Option C (cross-region read replica with automated backups enabled) replicates data asynchronously to another AWS region, allowing promotion to a standalone database for disaster recovery. With continuous replication, the RPO can be less than 5 minutes, and promotion time is typically under 1 hour, meeting both objectives. Option A is incorrect because a single-AZ instance with automated backups requires restoring from a backup, which takes longer than 1 hour, failing the RTO requirement. Option D is incorrect because daily manual snapshots have an RPO of up to 24 hours, exceeding the 5-minute requirement. Option E is incorrect because AWS DMS is primarily a migration service and is not optimized for continuous replication for DR; it adds complexity and does not provide the same RTO/RPO guarantees as native RDS replication features.
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 a single-AZ instance with automated backups to S3.
Why it's wrong here
A single-AZ instance with automated backups to S3 requires restoring a backup, which takes longer than 1 hour, failing the RTO requirement. Also, automated backups are typically taken once per day, so RPO would exceed 5 minutes.
- ✓
Deploy the database in a Multi-AZ configuration.
Why this is correct
Multi-AZ configuration provides automatic synchronous replication to a standby instance in a different Availability Zone. Automatic failover occurs within minutes, achieving RTO < 1 hour and RPO near zero.
- ✓
Create a cross-region read replica with automated backups enabled.
Why this is correct
A cross-region read replica with automated backups enabled replicates data asynchronously to another region. Continuous replication allows RPO < 5 minutes, and promoting the replica can be done in under 1 hour, meeting both objectives.
- ✗
Take daily manual snapshots and copy them to another region.
Why it's wrong here
Daily manual snapshots taken and copied to another region result in an RPO of up to 24 hours, which is far greater than 5 minutes. Restoring from a snapshot also takes significant time, failing RTO.
- ✗
Use AWS DMS for continuous replication to a standby instance.
Why it's wrong here
AWS DMS is designed for migration and ongoing replication but is not the native DR mechanism for RDS. It adds complexity and does not guarantee the same RTO/RPO as Multi-AZ or read replicas.
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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.