DBS-C01 Deployment and Migration Practice Question
A company is migrating a 500 GB SQL Server database to Amazon RDS for SQL Server. The database has a large number of stored procedures and triggers. The migration must have minimal downtime. Which approach should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often assume native backup/restore (Option D) is the simplest and fastest method, but they overlook the requirement for minimal downtime, which demands ongoing replication rather than a single offline restore operation.
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 (AWS DMS) with full load and ongoing replication
AWS DMS with full load and ongoing replication enables continuous change data capture (CDC) from the source SQL Server database to Amazon RDS for SQL Server, minimizing downtime by keeping the target synchronized until cutover. This approach handles the stored procedures and triggers natively since both source and target are SQL Server, avoiding schema conversion issues.
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 Schema Conversion Tool (AWS SCT) to convert the schema and AWS DMS for data migration
Why it's wrong here
AWS Schema Conversion Tool (AWS SCT) is primarily designed for heterogeneous database migrations, converting schema objects like stored procedures and triggers between different engine types. In this scenario, migrating from SQL Server to Amazon RDS for SQL Server is a homogeneous migration, meaning the schema is already compatible, rendering SCT's conversion capabilities largely redundant. This approach is tempting because AWS SCT, combined with AWS DMS for data replication, forms a powerful solution for complex migrations, and would be the correct choice if the target database engine were different, requiring schema transformation.
- ✗
Use AWS S3 to store the data and AWS Glue to transform and load into RDS
Why it's wrong here
This is not a standard approach for database migration.
- ✓
Use AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) with full load and ongoing replication
Why this is correct
AWS DMS supports ongoing replication to minimize downtime.
- ✗
Use native SQL Server backup and restore to Amazon RDS
Why it's wrong here
Backup and restore does not support ongoing replication; it requires downtime.
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