DBS-C01 Deployment and Migration Practice Question
A company is migrating a 500 GB MySQL database from on-premises to Amazon RDS for MySQL. The database is critical and must have minimal downtime. Which approach should be used to migrate the database with the least downtime?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse the AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT) with DMS, or assume that a read replica can be created from an on-premises database to RDS, but MySQL read replicas only work within the RDS ecosystem and require the source to be an RDS 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
✓
Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with a replication instance to perform a full load and then ongoing replication until cutover.
AWS DMS with ongoing replication (change data capture) is the correct approach because it performs an initial full load of the 500 GB database and then continuously replicates incremental changes from the source to the target RDS instance. This allows the source database to remain operational during migration, and the cutover can be performed in seconds by stopping application writes and applying the final changes, minimizing downtime to near zero.
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 Database Migration Service (DMS) with a replication instance to perform a full load and then ongoing replication until cutover.
Why this is correct
DMS supports ongoing replication to minimize downtime during migration.
- ✗
Modify the on-premises database to use a new master user and then use the AWS Schema Conversion Tool to migrate.
Why it's wrong here
Changing the master user does not facilitate migration; the Schema Conversion Tool is for schema conversion, not data migration.
- ✗
Create a read replica of the on-premises database and promote it to a standalone RDS instance.
Why it's wrong here
Read replicas can only be created from existing RDS instances, not from on-premises databases.
- ✗
Export the database using mysqldump and import into RDS using mysql command-line tool. Schedule a maintenance window for cutover.
Why it's wrong here
This approach requires taking the database offline for the duration of export and import, causing significant downtime.
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