DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
A company is migrating an on-premises Oracle database to Amazon RDS for Oracle. The database is 500 GB and has a 4-hour downtime window. Which AWS service should be used to perform the migration with minimal 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
✓
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) is the correct choice because it supports ongoing replication (change data capture) to minimize downtime during the migration. Oracle Data Pump is an export/import tool that requires downtime and cannot perform continuous replication. AWS Snowball Edge is for offline bulk data transfer, not suitable for a 4-hour window with minimal downtime. Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration only speeds up uploads to S3, not a database migration tool. Therefore, DMS is the recommended service for minimal downtime migration.
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 Database Migration Service (DMS)
Why this is correct
DMS can perform a one-time full load and then ongoing replication to minimize downtime.
- ✗
Oracle Data Pump using Amazon RDS option groups
Why it's wrong here
While Oracle Data Pump can export/import, it is not managed by AWS and typically requires longer downtime.
- ✗
AWS Snowball Edge
Why it's wrong here
Snowball can transfer data offline but does not support ongoing replication, so downtime would be longer.
- ✗
Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration
Why it's wrong here
S3 is not a migration tool and does not support database replication.
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 |
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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.