DBS-C01 Deployment and Migration Practice Question
A company is migrating an on-premises MongoDB database to Amazon DocumentDB. The migration must be online with minimal downtime. Which AWS service should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse AWS DataSync (file transfer) or Snowball Edge (offline bulk transfer) with database migration, but DMS is the only service that supports live, ongoing replication for heterogeneous database migrations like MongoDB to DocumentDB.
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 DMS
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) is the correct choice because it supports ongoing replication (change data capture) from MongoDB to Amazon DocumentDB, enabling an online migration with minimal downtime. DMS can perform a full load of existing data and then continuously replicate changes from the source MongoDB oplog to keep the target DocumentDB synchronized until cutover.
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 DataSync
Why it's wrong here
DataSync is for file-based data transfer, not for database migration.
- ✓
AWS DMS
Why this is correct
DMS supports MongoDB to DocumentDB with CDC for minimal downtime.
- ✗
AWS S3
Why it's wrong here
S3 is an object storage service, not a database migration service.
- ✗
AWS Snowball Edge
Why it's wrong here
AWS Snowball Edge is a physical data transfer device for offline bulk migrations, not a live replication tool. It cannot perform the continuous change data capture required for an online MongoDB-to-DocumentDB migration with minimal downtime. The correct service, AWS Database Migration Service (DMS), streams ongoing changes from source to target. Snowball Edge is tempting because it handles large-scale offline data transfers efficiently, and would be correct for a one-time, offline migration where network bandwidth is insufficient.
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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.