DBS-C01 Deployment and Migration Practice Question
A company is migrating a 500 GB database from Amazon RDS for MySQL to Amazon Aurora MySQL. The migration must be completed with minimal downtime and no data loss. The RDS instance is Multi-AZ. Which approach should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates assume AWS DMS is always the best choice for minimal-downtime migrations, but for MySQL-to-Aurora migrations, native MySQL replication is simpler, faster, and avoids the overhead of an additional DMS instance.
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 an Aurora MySQL read replica from the RDS MySQL instance, then promote it
Creating an Aurora MySQL read replica from the RDS MySQL instance uses the native MySQL binary log (binlog) replication to keep the Aurora cluster synchronized with minimal downtime. Once the replica lag reaches zero, you promote the Aurora cluster to make it the primary database, ensuring no data loss and a very short cutover window.
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 AWS DMS with ongoing replication from RDS to Aurora
Why it's wrong here
DMS can work but is not the simplest approach for MySQL to Aurora migration.
- ✗
Take a snapshot of the RDS instance and restore to Aurora
Why it's wrong here
Snapshot restore requires downtime and may not capture ongoing changes.
- ✗
Set up native MySQL replication from the RDS Multi-AZ standby to Aurora
Why it's wrong here
You cannot directly replicate from a Multi-AZ standby; replication must be from the primary.
- ✓
Create an Aurora MySQL read replica from the RDS MySQL instance, then promote it
Why this is correct
Aurora MySQL supports creating a read replica from RDS MySQL, allowing minimal downtime.
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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.