DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
A company is migrating an on-premises Oracle database to Amazon RDS for Oracle. The database is 2 TB in size and has a 100 Mbps internet connection. The migration must be completed within 3 days with minimal downtime. Which approach is MOST suitable?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates underestimate the real-world throughput of a 100 Mbps link for a 2 TB transfer, assuming theoretical maximum speeds, and overlook the Snowball option as a viable offline data transfer method for large databases with tight timelines.
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 a full load from an AWS Snowball device, then ongoing replication.
The 2 TB database cannot be fully loaded over a 100 Mbps internet connection within 3 days (theoretical max transfer ~2.6 TB in 3 days, but real-world throughput is lower due to overhead and contention). AWS Snowball provides a physical appliance to transfer the full load offline, bypassing bandwidth constraints, and then AWS DMS ongoing replication captures and applies changes with minimal downtime.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Export the database as a dump file, upload to S3, and restore to RDS.
Why it's wrong here
Uploading 2 TB over the internet is too slow for the given timeline.
- ✓
Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with a full load from an AWS Snowball device, then ongoing replication.
Why this is correct
Snowball handles the initial large data transfer, and DMS provides minimal downtime replication.
- ✗
Use AWS DMS with full load over the internet, then ongoing replication.
Why it's wrong here
100 Mbps connection would take days for 2 TB, exceeding the 3-day window.
- ✗
Create a VPN connection to AWS and use Oracle Data Pump over the VPN.
Why it's wrong here
VPN does not increase bandwidth; still limited by 100 Mbps internet.
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Variation 1. A company is migrating its on-premises Oracle database to Amazon RDS for Oracle. The database is 2 TB in size and the network bandwidth is 100 Mbps. The migration must have minimal downtime. Which TWO approaches should be used together to achieve this?
medium- A.Take a full backup of the source database and restore it to Amazon RDS.
- B.Increase the network bandwidth to 1 Gbps to speed up the transfer.
- C.Use AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT) to convert the schema before migration.
- ✓ D.Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication to keep the target in sync.
- ✓ E.Use AWS Snowball to transfer the initial data load to Amazon S3, then use DMS to migrate the remaining changes.
Why D: AWS DMS with ongoing replication allows continuous data replication with minimal downtime. AWS Snowball can be used for the initial large data transfer to avoid prolonged network transfer. Option A (taking a full backup and restoring) would cause downtime; Option B (increasing bandwidth) is not feasible quickly; Option C (SCT) is for schema conversion, not data migration; Option D (DMS with ongoing replication) is correct; Option E (Snowball for initial load then DMS for ongoing changes) minimizes network transfer time.
JA
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.