DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A company uses Amazon RDS for MySQL with Multi-AZ. During a recent failover test, the database experienced a 5-minute write outage. The application can tolerate up to 1 minute of downtime. Which solution should be used to reduce the failover time?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates assume RDS Proxy or DNS TTL adjustments can reduce failover time, when in reality the failover delay is dominated by the database engine's crash recovery process, which only Aurora's distributed storage architecture can mitigate.
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
✓
Migrate to Amazon Aurora MySQL.
Amazon Aurora MySQL is designed to reduce failover time significantly compared to standard RDS for MySQL Multi-AZ. Aurora typically completes failover in under 60 seconds by using a shared distributed storage volume across multiple Availability Zones, eliminating the need to replay redo logs on the standby. This directly meets the application's requirement of tolerating up to 1 minute of 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.
- ✓
Migrate to Amazon Aurora MySQL.
Why this is correct
Aurora failover is typically under 30 seconds.
- ✗
Use Amazon RDS Proxy between the application and the database.
Why it's wrong here
RDS Proxy reduces connection disruption but not failover time.
- ✗
Enable automatic failover on the Multi-AZ deployment.
Why it's wrong here
Already enabled; failover still takes minutes.
- ✗
Decrease the DNS TTL on the RDS endpoint.
Why it's wrong here
DNS changes do not reduce failover time.
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Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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