The correct answer is to enable Multi-AZ deployment for Amazon RDS MySQL. This is the right choice because Multi-AZ automatically provisions a synchronous standby replica in a different Availability Zone, ensuring that all writes are committed to both the primary and standby before a transaction is confirmed. In the event of a primary instance failure, Amazon RDS handles automatic failover by flipping the DNS record to the standby, typically completing the switch within one to two minutes with no data loss. On the AWS Certified Database Specialty DBS-C01 exam, this concept tests your understanding of high availability versus disaster recovery—a common trap is confusing Multi-AZ with read replicas, which are asynchronous and do not provide automatic failover. Remember: Multi-AZ is for high availability and automatic failover; read replicas are for read scaling. A useful memory tip is “Multi-AZ mirrors, read replicas steer.”
DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
This DBS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of workload-specific database design. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company is designing an Amazon RDS for MySQL database for an e-commerce application. Which TWO design strategies will help ensure high availability and automatic failover in the event of a primary instance failure?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "primary"
Why it matters: Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Enable Multi-AZ deployment.
Option C is correct because enabling Multi-AZ deployment for Amazon RDS MySQL automatically provisions and maintains a synchronous standby replica in a different Availability Zone. In the event of a primary instance failure, Amazon RDS automatically fails over to the standby replica, providing high availability with minimal downtime.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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 Amazon Aurora instead of RDS MySQL.
Why it's wrong here
Aurora is a different service; the question specifies RDS MySQL.
✗
Create a read replica in the same Availability Zone.
Why it's wrong here
Read replicas are for read scaling, not automatic failover.
✓
Enable Multi-AZ deployment.
Why this is correct
Multi-AZ provides automatic failover to a standby in a different Availability Zone.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "primary" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Provision read replicas in different Availability Zones.
Why it's wrong here
Read replicas do not provide automatic failover.
✗
Enable automatic backups.
Why it's wrong here
Backups help with data recovery but not with automatic failover.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse read replicas (which are for read scaling and require manual promotion) with Multi-AZ standby replicas (which provide automatic failover), leading them to select options B or D incorrectly.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Multi-AZ deployments use synchronous replication to maintain a standby replica in a different AZ, ensuring zero data loss during failover. The failover process is automatic and typically completes within 60–120 seconds, during which DNS records are updated to point to the standby instance. This design is critical for meeting RPO and RTO requirements in production e-commerce workloads.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Workload-Specific Database Design — This question tests Workload-Specific Database Design — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Enable Multi-AZ deployment. — Option C is correct because enabling Multi-AZ deployment for Amazon RDS MySQL automatically provisions and maintains a synchronous standby replica in a different Availability Zone. In the event of a primary instance failure, Amazon RDS automatically fails over to the standby replica, providing high availability with minimal downtime.
What should I do if I get this DBS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "primary". Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company is running a critical application on Amazon RDS for Oracle. They need to ensure high availability with automatic failover in case of a database failure. The database size is 500 GB. Which solution should they implement?
medium
A.Create a cross-Region read replica
B.Migrate to Amazon DynamoDB Global Tables
C.Take regular snapshots and restore in a different Availability Zone
✓ D.Enable Multi-AZ deployment
Why D: Multi-AZ for RDS Oracle provides automatic failover to a standby in a different Availability Zone. Option B (read replicas) are for read scaling, not automatic failover. Option C (manual snapshot restore) is not automatic. Option D (DynamoDB) is a different database service.
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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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.
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