DBS-C01 Deployment and Migration Practice Question
A company is migrating an on-premises Oracle database to Amazon RDS for Oracle. The database uses Oracle Data Pump for export/import. The migration must be completed within a short maintenance window. Which migration approach should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers assume Oracle Data Pump (Option C) is the fastest because it's a native Oracle tool, but they overlook that it requires the source database to be offline during export, which violates the short maintenance window constraint, whereas DMS with CDC allows near-zero downtime.
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 with full load and change data capture (CDC).
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with full load and change data capture (CDC) is the correct approach because it minimizes downtime by performing an initial full load of the Oracle database and then continuously replicating ongoing changes until the cutover, allowing the migration to complete within a short maintenance window. Unlike Oracle Data Pump, which requires the source database to be offline during export/import, DMS with CDC keeps the source operational and only requires a brief outage at final 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.
- ✗
Use AWS Snowball to transfer the database files to AWS and then restore to RDS.
Why it's wrong here
Snowball is for bulk data transfer, not for minimal downtime migration.
- ✓
Use AWS Database Migration Service with full load and change data capture (CDC).
Why this is correct
AWS DMS with full load and CDC satisfies the short maintenance window constraint by performing an initial full copy of the Oracle database while simultaneously capturing ongoing changes via redo log mining. This allows the target RDS for Oracle instance to stay synchronised with the source during the migration, so cutover can occur with minimal downtime rather than requiring a single extended export/import window.
- ✗
Use Oracle Data Pump to export the database and import into RDS.
Why it's wrong here
Data Pump export/import requires the database to be offline or in read-only mode during the process.
- ✗
Use AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT) to convert the schema and then use DMS for data migration.
Why it's wrong here
SCT is not needed when migrating from Oracle to Oracle; schema conversion is unnecessary.
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