DBS-C01 Deployment and Migration Practice Question
A company is migrating a 500 GB on-premises PostgreSQL database to Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL. The migration must have minimal downtime and support ongoing replication after the initial load. The network link has limited bandwidth, and the company wants to avoid costly data transfer fees. Which approach should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume Snowball Edge is always the best choice for large databases to avoid bandwidth costs, but for 500 GB and the need for ongoing replication, DMS with CDC is more appropriate and cost-effective.
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 DMS with ongoing replication (CDC) from the start.
AWS DMS with ongoing replication (CDC) enables a full load followed by continuous change data capture, which meets the requirements of minimal downtime and ongoing replication. DMS compresses data in transit and can throttle network usage, helping to manage limited bandwidth and avoid costly data transfer fees by using the existing network link efficiently.
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 (CDC) from the start.
Why this is correct
CDC captures changes continuously, minimizing downtime and supporting ongoing sync.
- ✗
Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with a full load only, then cut over.
Why it's wrong here
Full load only does not capture changes made during migration, causing data loss.
- ✗
Use pg_dump to export the database and pg_restore to import into RDS.
Why it's wrong here
pg_dump/pg_restore requires downtime for consistency and does not support ongoing replication.
- ✗
Use AWS Snowball Edge to transfer the database files, then load into RDS.
Why it's wrong here
Snowball is for large data transfers; 500 GB can be transferred over the network more easily.
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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.