DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A company is migrating an on-premises Oracle database to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL. The database is 2 TB and has a daily change rate of 10%. They have a 1 Gbps network connection to AWS. They want to minimize downtime during the migration. Which migration approach should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to assume native database tools like pg_dump/pg_restore can be used across different database engines, or that Aurora read replicas can be created from non-Aurora sources, leading them to choose options that are technically impossible or would cause excessive 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 (DMS) with ongoing replication
AWS DMS with ongoing replication (change data capture) is the correct choice because it allows continuous replication of changes from the source Oracle database to the target Aurora PostgreSQL, minimizing downtime by keeping the target nearly in sync until a final cutover. The 2 TB size and 10% daily change rate make a full offline export impractical, and DMS handles both schema conversion (via SCT integration) and data migration with minimal interruption.
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 Schema Conversion Tool (SCT) to convert schema, then import data
Why it's wrong here
SCT only converts schema; data migration still requires another tool.
- ✓
Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication
Why this is correct
DMS supports continuous change data capture (CDC) to minimize downtime.
- ✗
Use pg_dump to export the database and pg_restore to import
Why it's wrong here
This would cause significant downtime and cannot handle ongoing changes.
- ✗
Create an Aurora read replica from the Oracle database
Why it's wrong here
Aurora cannot have an Oracle source as a read replica.
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