DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
A company runs a critical application on an Amazon RDS for MySQL DB instance. The company requires that the database be available with minimal downtime during a disaster recovery scenario. The current RDS instance is in us-east-1. The company wants to have a standby database in us-west-2 with automatic failover. What should the company do to meet this requirement?
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
✓
Create a cross-region read replica in us-west-2. Configure automatic failover using Amazon Route 53 health checks.
An RDS cross-region read replica can be promoted to a standalone instance in a disaster, providing automatic failover with minimal downtime when combined with Route 53 health checks. Option A (Multi-AZ in us-west-2) does not provide cross-region failover; Multi-AZ only provides high availability within a single region. Option B (snapshots) requires manual restoration and incurs downtime. Option D (Multi-AZ in us-east-1) only protects against Availability Zone failures within us-east-1, not region failures. Therefore, option C is the correct solution.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create a Multi-AZ deployment in us-west-2 and use Amazon Route 53 to failover.
Why it's wrong here
The primary database is in us-east-1, so a Multi-AZ in us-west-2 does not help.
- ✗
Take daily snapshots and copy them to us-west-2. Restore from snapshot in us-west-2 during a disaster.
Why it's wrong here
This approach has significant downtime for snapshot restoration.
- ✓
Create a cross-region read replica in us-west-2. Configure automatic failover using Amazon Route 53 health checks.
Why this is correct
The read replica can be promoted quickly, and Route 53 can redirect traffic automatically.
- ✗
Create a Multi-AZ deployment in us-east-1.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ provides high availability within a single region, not cross-region disaster recovery.
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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.