DOP-C02 Resilient Cloud Solutions Practice Question
A company is designing a disaster recovery plan for a MySQL database running on Amazon RDS. The database is critical and must have an RPO of 5 minutes and an RTO of 1 hour. The primary Region is us-east-1, and the DR Region is us-west-2. Which TWO steps should the company take to meet these requirements? (Choose TWO.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse Multi-AZ (which provides automatic failover within a Region) with cross-Region disaster recovery, or assume that automated backups or snapshot copies can meet a low RPO/RTO when they actually require time-consuming restore operations.
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.
Option A is correct because a cross-Region read replica continuously replicates data asynchronously from the primary RDS instance in us-east-1 to us-west-2, which can keep the DR copy within the 5-minute RPO requirement. Option D is correct because, during a disaster, the cross-Region read replica must be promoted to a standalone DB instance in us-west-2 so it can accept writes and become the new primary, enabling recovery within the 1-hour RTO. Option B is not correct because a 5-minute backup window does not guarantee a 5-minute RPO; automated backups are periodic snapshots and the backup window only defines when backups occur, not continuous replication. Option C is not correct because cross-Region automated snapshot copy is periodic and typically cannot achieve a 5-minute RPO, and restoring from a snapshot would likely exceed the 1-hour RTO. Option E is not correct because Multi-AZ in us-east-1 only provides high availability within the same Region and does not protect against a Region-wide disaster or provide a DR copy in us-west-2.
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 cross-Region read replica in us-west-2.
Why this is correct
A cross-Region read replica continuously replicates asynchronously from us-east-1 to us-west-2, keeping data loss well within the 5-minute RPO. During failover, promoting it to a standalone primary completes in minutes, satisfying the 1-hour RTO without restoring from snapshots.
- ✗
Enable automated backups with a 5-minute backup window.
Why it's wrong here
Automated backups snapshot storage; the shortest achievable RPO is bounded by snapshot frequency and they restore only within the same Region, so us-west-2 recovery fails the 5-minute RPO. Backups suit point-in-time recovery from corruption or accidental deletion, not cross-Region failover.
- ✗
Configure cross-Region automated snapshot copy to us-west-2.
Why it's wrong here
Automated snapshot copy restores to the latest copied snapshot, which can lag well beyond five minutes, so the RPO is not guaranteed. Snapshot copy suits long-term backup retention and compliance archiving across Regions, not tight recovery objectives.
- ✓
Set up a process to promote the read replica to a standalone instance in us-west-2 during a disaster.
Why this is correct
Promoting the cross-Region read replica in us-west-2 provides a warm standby whose asynchronous replication keeps data loss within the 5-minute RPO, while promotion completes well inside the 1-hour RTO. This satisfies both constraints without the multi-Region write complexity of Aurora Global Database.
- ✗
Enable Multi-AZ deployment in us-east-1.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ maintains a synchronous standby in a second Availability Zone inside us-east-1 only, providing no presence in us-west-2, so a Region-wide failure breaks both RPO and RTO. It is the right choice for surviving an AZ outage with automatic failover.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on DOP-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company's DevOps team is designing a disaster recovery plan for a critical application. The application runs on EC2 instances with an RDS MySQL database. The Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is 15 minutes, and the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is 1 hour. Which approach BEST meets these requirements?
easy- A.Use backup and restore with daily snapshots stored in S3 and cross-Region replication.
- ✓ B.Use a multi-Region application with Route 53 latency-based routing and RDS read replicas in the DR Region.
- C.Use a warm standby strategy with a scaled-down copy of the production environment in the DR Region, and replicate data using RDS Multi-AZ with synchronous replication.
- D.Use a pilot light strategy with EC2 instances stopped and RDS snapshots copied to the DR Region.
Why B: The best approach for a multi-Region disaster recovery with RTO of 15 minutes and RPO of 1 hour. By deploying the application in multiple regions and using RDS cross-Region read replicas, data is asynchronously replicated with an RPO typically within seconds to minutes, well within 1 hour. In the event of a failure, the read replica can be promoted to a primary instance, and Route 53 routing (preferably failover routing, but latency-based routing can also redirect traffic) can shift traffic to the DR region. This failover can be completed within a few minutes, meeting the 15-minute RTO. Option A fails because daily snapshots exceed the 1-hour RPO and restore times exceed the RTO. Option C incorrectly relies on RDS Multi-AZ, which is a single-region high-availability feature and does not provide cross-region replication; thus it cannot serve as a disaster recovery solution across regions. Option D, pilot light with snapshots, has a longer RTO as it requires restoring instances from snapshots and starting them, likely exceeding 15 minutes.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DOP-C02 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 DOP-C02 exam.