The answer is warm standby and pilot light with database replication, as both can achieve a 1-hour RTO and 15-minute RPO when properly configured. Warm standby maintains a scaled-down but fully functional copy of the production environment in a different Region, with database replication—such as Amazon RDS cross-Region read replicas or Aurora Global Database—keeping the RPO under 15 minutes, and the standby can be scaled up within the hour. Pilot light achieves the same by running only the core data layer (e.g., a replicated database) and a minimal application stack, then provisioning the full environment on failover, which still fits the 1-hour window if automation is in place. On the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional DOP-C02 exam, this question tests your ability to distinguish recovery strategies by their infrastructure state and data synchronization methods; a common trap is assuming pilot light cannot meet a 15-minute RPO, but it can with synchronous or near-synchronous database replication. Memory tip: think of warm standby as a “sleeping giant” (already running, just needs resources) and pilot light as a “ready spark” (database live, rest starts on demand)—both can hit your RTO and RPO if replication is fast enough.
DOP-C02 Resilient Cloud Solutions Practice Question
This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of resilient cloud solutions. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 company is designing a disaster recovery plan for an application running on AWS. The plan must meet an RTO of 1 hour and an RPO of 15 minutes. Which TWO strategies can achieve these objectives? (Select TWO.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Warm standby in a different AWS Region with database replication
Option B (Warm standby) is correct because it maintains a scaled-down but fully functional copy of the production environment in a different AWS Region, with database replication (e.g., Amazon RDS cross-Region read replicas or Aurora Global Database) ensuring an RPO of 15 minutes or less. The standby infrastructure can be scaled up within the 1-hour RTO, as it is already running and configured.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Backup and restore using daily snapshots to a different Region
Why it's wrong here
Daily snapshots exceed 15 min RPO.
✓
Warm standby in a different AWS Region with database replication
Why this is correct
Can meet RTO 1 hr and RPO 15 min.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Cold standby in a different Region with infrastructure deployed on demand
Why it's wrong here
RTO likely exceeds 1 hour.
✓
Pilot light in a different Region with database replication
Why this is correct
Can meet RTO 1 hr and RPO 15 min.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Multi-AZ deployment in the same Region
Why it's wrong here
Does not protect against Region failure.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Multi-AZ deployments (which are high availability within a Region) with cross-Region disaster recovery, failing to recognize that Multi-AZ does not protect against a full Regional outage.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
For warm standby, database replication can be implemented using Amazon RDS cross-Region read replicas with MySQL or PostgreSQL, which use asynchronous replication with a typical lag of seconds to a few minutes, meeting the 15-minute RPO. Pilot light (Option D) is also correct because it keeps core data (e.g., database replicas) running in the DR Region while compute resources are stopped; during failover, the compute layer is started and configured, which can be automated to complete within 1 hour using AWS CloudFormation or Elastic Beanstalk.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
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
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Resilient Cloud Solutions — This question tests Resilient Cloud Solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Warm standby in a different AWS Region with database replication — Option B (Warm standby) is correct because it maintains a scaled-down but fully functional copy of the production environment in a different AWS Region, with database replication (e.g., Amazon RDS cross-Region read replicas or Aurora Global Database) ensuring an RPO of 15 minutes or less. The standby infrastructure can be scaled up within the 1-hour RTO, as it is already running and configured.
What should I do if I get this DOP-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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 wants to ensure that its application running on AWS can withstand the failure of an entire AWS Region. Which TWO strategies should the company implement?
easy
✓ A.Deploy the application in multiple AWS Regions using an active-active or active-passive pattern
B.Deploy the application across multiple Availability Zones in a single Region
✓ C.Replicate data across Regions using services like DynamoDB global tables or RDS cross-Region replication
D.Use a single CloudFront distribution with multiple origins in the same Region
E.Configure RDS read replicas in the same Region
Why A: B and C are correct. Multi-Region deployment provides regional isolation. Data replication ensures data availability. Option A is wrong because Multi-AZ protects only within a Region. Option D is wrong because a single CloudFront distribution with multiple origins does not guarantee regional failover. Option E is wrong because RDS read replicas are for read scaling, not disaster recovery.
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
Question Discussion
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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.
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