DBS-C01 Deployment and Migration Practice Question
A company is migrating an on-premises MySQL database to Amazon RDS for MySQL. The database is 2 TB in size and the network bandwidth is 100 Mbps. The company needs to minimize downtime. Which migration strategy should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to choose mysqldump (Option C) because it is a familiar tool, but they overlook the fact that for a 2 TB database over a 100 Mbps link, the export and import would take over 48 hours, causing excessive downtime, whereas DMS with ongoing replication allows near-zero downtime by performing the bulk load first and then syncing changes.
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 (DMS) with ongoing replication.
AWS DMS with ongoing replication is the correct strategy because it allows you to perform a full load of the 2 TB database while simultaneously capturing ongoing changes from the source MySQL binlog. This minimizes downtime by enabling a cutover with only a brief pause to ensure replication lag is zero, rather than requiring a long period of application downtime for a full export and import.
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 Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication.
Why this is correct
AWS DMS can perform a full load followed by continuous replication to keep the target in sync, minimizing downtime.
- ✗
Copy database files to Amazon S3, then restore to RDS using native restore.
Why it's wrong here
RDS does not support native restore from S3 for MySQL; this is not a valid option.
- ✗
Use mysqldump to export the database and import it into RDS.
Why it's wrong here
mysqldump is a logical backup tool, but for a 2 TB database with limited bandwidth, it would be slow and cause significant downtime.
- ✗
Use AWS Server Migration Service to migrate the database server.
Why it's wrong here
AWS SMS is for server-level migration, not database-level.
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