DBS-C01 Deployment and Migration Practice Question
A company is migrating a 500 GB on-premises Oracle database to Amazon RDS for Oracle. The migration must have minimal downtime. Which AWS service should be used for the initial data load and ongoing replication?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse AWS DataSync or Snowball Edge as viable for database migrations with minimal downtime, but neither supports the continuous change capture required for live replication, which is the core requirement of the 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
✓
AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS)
AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) is the correct choice because it supports both full-load migration of the initial 500 GB Oracle database and ongoing change data capture (CDC) replication to keep the target RDS for Oracle instance synchronized with minimal downtime. DMS uses Oracle LogMiner or binary reader to capture changes from the source redo logs and apply them continuously, enabling a near-zero downtime migration.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS Snowball Edge for offline data transfer
Why it's wrong here
Snowball is offline and cannot achieve minimal downtime.
- ✓
AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS)
Why this is correct
DMS supports full load and CDC replication for minimal downtime.
- ✗
Amazon S3 to store backup files and restore
Why it's wrong here
S3 alone does not provide ongoing replication.
- ✗
AWS DataSync
Why it's wrong here
DataSync is designed for file-based data, not databases.
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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 is migrating a 10 TB Oracle database to Amazon RDS for Oracle. The migration window is limited to 24 hours. The source database is running on-premises with a 500 Mbps network connection. Which migration approach should be used?
medium- ✓ A.Use AWS DMS with full load and ongoing replication
- B.Create an RDS read replica from the on-premises database
- C.Take a physical backup of the source database and restore to RDS
- D.Use Oracle Data Pump to export and import the database
Why A: AWS DMS with full load and ongoing replication is the correct approach because it can handle the 10 TB migration within the 24-hour window by using the 500 Mbps connection for the initial full load (which takes approximately 48 hours at full bandwidth, but DMS can compress data and use parallel tasks to reduce time), and then switch to ongoing replication to minimize downtime. The ongoing replication captures changes via Oracle LogMiner or binary logs, allowing the source to remain operational during the migration.
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.