DBS-C01 Cross-Region Read Replica Practice Question
A company is designing a disaster recovery strategy for an Amazon RDS for SQL Server DB instance that contains sensitive financial data. The database must be encrypted at rest using a customer-managed AWS KMS key. The recovery point objective (RPO) is 5 minutes, and the recovery time objective (RTO) is 1 hour. Which THREE steps should be taken to meet these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often think Multi-AZ is required for disaster recovery across regions, but it only handles failure within a single region.
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
✓
Store the KMS key in the secondary Region by creating a cross-Region KMS key replica.
To achieve an RPO of 5 minutes and RTO of 1 hour across regions, you need automated backups with a 5-minute interval (D) so that transaction logs are backed up frequently. A cross-Region read replica (E) can be promoted quickly in the secondary region to meet the RTO. Since the database uses a customer-managed KMS key, you must create a cross-Region KMS key replica (C) in the secondary region so that the replica can be encrypted. Multi-AZ (B) only provides high availability within a single region and does not support cross-region disaster recovery, so it does not help meet these RPO/RTO requirements.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Take a manual DB snapshot every hour.
Why it's wrong here
A manual snapshot every hour does not meet the 5-minute RPO.
- ✗
Enable Multi-AZ deployment for automatic failover.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ deployment is for high availability within a single region, not for cross-region disaster recovery, so it does not help achieve the cross-region RPO/RTO.
- ✓
Store the KMS key in the secondary Region by creating a cross-Region KMS key replica.
Why this is correct
A cross-Region KMS key replica ensures the KMS key is available in the secondary region to encrypt the cross-region read replica, making this step necessary.
- ✓
Configure automated backups with a 5-minute backup interval.
Why this is correct
Automated backups with a 5-minute backup interval capture transaction logs frequently, meeting the 5-minute RPO.
- ✓
Create a cross-Region read replica in a different AWS Region.
Why this is correct
A cross-Region read replica can be promoted quickly in the secondary region to meet the 1-hour RTO.
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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.