This DBS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of management and operations. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A team is migrating an on-premises Oracle database to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL. The database is 2 TB and has a 6-hour maintenance window. Which AWS service should the team use to minimize downtime?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "minimum / minimize"
Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS)
DMS supports heterogeneous migrations with minimal downtime.
Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration
Why wrong: This speeds up S3 uploads, not database migration.
AWS Snowball Edge
Why wrong: Snowball is for large data transfer, not live migration.
Amazon EC2 with Oracle installed
Why wrong: This does not automate migration.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS)
AWS DMS is the correct choice because it can perform a live migration from Oracle to Aurora PostgreSQL with minimal downtime using ongoing replication (change data capture). It supports heterogeneous migrations, automatically converting the source schema and data types, and can handle a 2 TB database within the 6-hour maintenance window by using multiple parallel tasks and large instance types.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS)
Why this is correct
DMS supports heterogeneous migrations with minimal downtime.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration
Why it's wrong here
This speeds up S3 uploads, not database migration.
AWS Snowball Edge
Why it's wrong here
Snowball is for large data transfer, not live migration.
Amazon EC2 with Oracle installed
Why it's wrong here
This does not automate migration.
Common exam traps
AWS often tests the misconception that offline transfer services like Snowball are suitable for minimal-downtime migrations, but the trap here is that Snowball requires a full data export and import, which cannot achieve the sub-hour cutover needed within a 6-hour maintenance window.
Detailed technical explanation
AWS DMS uses a replication instance to connect to the source Oracle database via Oracle LogMiner or binary reader to capture changes in near real-time, applying them to the target Aurora PostgreSQL using native PostgreSQL COPY and batch inserts. For heterogeneous migrations, DMS leverages the AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT) to convert the Oracle schema to PostgreSQL-compatible DDL, handling data type mappings (e.g., NUMBER to NUMERIC, VARCHAR2 to VARCHAR) and partitioning. In a real-world scenario, a 2 TB Oracle database can be migrated with downtime measured in minutes by performing a full load, then enabling ongoing replication until the cutover window.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
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FAQ
Management and Operations — This question tests Management and Operations — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) — AWS DMS is the correct choice because it can perform a live migration from Oracle to Aurora PostgreSQL with minimal downtime using ongoing replication (change data capture). It supports heterogeneous migrations, automatically converting the source schema and data types, and can handle a 2 TB database within the 6-hour maintenance window by using multiple parallel tasks and large instance types.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "minimum / minimize". Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
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.
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