DBS-C01 Deployment and Migration Practice Question
A company is migrating a 10 TB Amazon RDS for MySQL database to Amazon Aurora MySQL. The migration must have minimal downtime and must support point-in-time recovery for the source during migration. Which approach meets these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently assume DMS CDC must be run directly from the source for simplicity, overlooking that a read replica isolates the migration workload and preserves the source's point-in-time recovery capabilities, which is a key requirement in this question.
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
✓
Create a read replica of the source RDS instance, use AWS DMS with CDC from the read replica to Aurora, then promote Aurora.
Creating a read replica of the source RDS for MySQL instance and using AWS DMS with Change Data Capture (CDC) from that replica allows the migration to proceed with minimal downtime. The read replica offloads the CDC overhead from the source, and CDC captures ongoing changes after the full load, enabling a near-zero-downtime cutover. Additionally, the source RDS instance remains fully available for point-in-time recovery (PITR) throughout the migration, as the read replica does not interfere with the source's backup or transaction log retention.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create a read replica of the source RDS instance, use AWS DMS with CDC from the read replica to Aurora, then promote Aurora.
Why this is correct
Read replica minimizes source impact, CDC allows minimal downtime, PITR on source remains.
- ✗
Use mysqldump to export the database, import into Aurora, and point DNS to Aurora.
Why it's wrong here
mysqldump causes downtime.
- ✗
Use AWS DMS with CDC directly from the source RDS instance to Aurora.
Why it's wrong here
Direct DMS may impact source performance and PITR.
- ✗
Take a snapshot of the source RDS instance, restore to Aurora, and point DNS to Aurora.
Why it's wrong here
Snapshot restore causes downtime.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every DBS-C01 question from scratch — 1,663 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on DBS-C01
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 wants to migrate a 2 TB Amazon RDS for MySQL DB instance to Amazon Aurora MySQL. The migration must have zero downtime and must be reversible for 48 hours. Which strategy meets these requirements?
hard- ✓ A.Create an Aurora MySQL Read Replica from the RDS MySQL instance, then promote the replica to a standalone Aurora cluster.
- B.Take a snapshot of the RDS MySQL instance, restore it to Aurora MySQL, and update the DNS.
- C.Export the database using mysqldump, import into Aurora, and switch DNS.
- D.Use AWS DMS with ongoing change data capture (CDC) to migrate to Aurora.
Why A: Creating an Aurora MySQL Read Replica from an RDS MySQL instance uses MySQL's native asynchronous replication to keep the Aurora cluster in sync with the source, allowing a near-zero-downtime cutover by promoting the replica. The migration is fully reversible within 48 hours because the original RDS instance remains unchanged and can continue serving traffic if the promotion is rolled back.
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.