Question 732 of 1,663
DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
A company runs a production Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL database. The database specialist needs to perform a major version upgrade with minimal downtime. Which strategy should the specialist use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently assume in-place upgrades via maintenance windows or direct modification are sufficient for minimal downtime, but they fail to recognize that major version upgrades require significant offline time, whereas the read replica promotion strategy effectively decouples the upgrade process from the production workload.
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 read replica with the new major version, promote it to primary, and update the application connection string.
Creating a read replica with the new major version, promoting it to primary, and updating the application connection string minimizes downtime by allowing the replica to catch up with the source database before promotion. This approach avoids the prolonged unavailability associated with in-place upgrades, as the promotion process typically takes only a few seconds, and the application can be switched over with a simple connection string update.
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 read replica with the new major version, promote it to primary, and update the application connection string.
Why this is correct
This minimizes downtime by using a replica.
- ✗
Take a snapshot of the database, launch a new instance from the snapshot, and upgrade it.
Why it's wrong here
Snapshot restore takes time and does not include real-time changes.
- ✗
Modify the DB instance to the new version directly using the AWS Management Console.
Why it's wrong here
Direct modification results in downtime.
- ✗
Schedule a maintenance window during off-peak hours and apply the upgrade.
Why it's wrong here
This causes downtime during the upgrade.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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