DBS-C01 Deployment and Migration Practice Question
A company is migrating a PostgreSQL database to Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL. They want to automate the deployment of the RDS instance using infrastructure as code. Which AWS service should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse the AWS CLI (a scripting tool) with infrastructure as code, but the CLI lacks the declarative, state-management, and drift-detection capabilities that define true IaC services like CloudFormation.
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 CloudFormation.
AWS CloudFormation is the correct service for automating the deployment of an RDS for PostgreSQL instance using infrastructure as code. It allows you to define the entire RDS instance configuration—including DB instance class, storage, backup retention, and security groups—in a declarative JSON or YAML template, which can be version-controlled and reused for consistent, repeatable deployments.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling.
Why it's wrong here
Auto Scaling is for EC2 instances, not RDS.
- ✗
AWS Management Console.
Why it's wrong here
The console is manual and not suitable for infrastructure as code.
- ✓
AWS CloudFormation.
Why this is correct
CloudFormation enables declarative provisioning of RDS instances.
- ✗
AWS Command Line Interface (CLI).
Why it's wrong here
CLI is scriptable but not a declarative infrastructure as code service.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
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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.