SAA-C03 Design Resilient Architectures Practice Question
A company is designing a mission-critical database architecture using Amazon RDS. Which TWO steps should the architect take to ensure high availability and data durability? (Select TWO.)
⚠ Common exam trap
SAA-C03 often tests the confusion between Read Replicas (read scaling, asynchronous) and Multi-AZ (high availability, synchronous failover), causing candidates to select a Read Replica when HA is required.
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
✓
Enable Multi-AZ deployment for the RDS instance.
Option A is correct because an RDS Multi-AZ deployment maintains a synchronous standby replica in a different Availability Zone, and RDS automatically fails over to that standby if the primary instance or its AZ fails, which directly provides high availability for a mission-critical database. Option C is correct because enabling automated backups with a defined retention period gives point-in-time recovery (PITR) to any second within the retention window (up to 35 days), which ensures data durability and recoverability from corruption or accidental deletion. Option B is not appropriate because a Read Replica in the same AZ is asynchronous, does not provide automatic failover, and would not survive an AZ-level outage. Option D is incorrect because gp2 is just one storage option and choosing it does not by itself deliver high availability or durability. Option E is incorrect because disabling deletion protection increases the risk of accidental data loss rather than protecting the database.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Enable Multi-AZ deployment for the RDS instance.
Why this is correct
Multi-AZ deployment ensures that a synchronous standby instance is maintained in a separate Availability Zone. In the event of a primary instance failure, RDS automatically promotes the standby to primary, significantly reducing downtime and ensuring the database remains available for critical application traffic without manual intervention or data loss.
- ✗
Configure a Read Replica in the same Availability Zone.
Why it's wrong here
Placing a Read Replica in the same Availability Zone as the primary database does not improve resilience against AZ-level failures. For true disaster recovery and high availability, read replicas should be placed in different Availability Zones or even different AWS Regions to survive localized physical infrastructure outages or network issues.
- ✓
Enable automated backups with a defined retention period.
Why this is correct
Automated backups are essential for data durability and point-in-time recovery. By retaining backups for a specific period, the organization can recover the database to any second within the retention window, providing a robust safety net against accidental data deletion, corruption, or catastrophic failures that impact the primary database instance.
- ✗
Set the storage type to General Purpose SSD (gp2) only.
Why it's wrong here
The storage type choice (gp2, gp3, or io1) affects performance and throughput but does not inherently provide high availability or durability. While SSDs offer better performance than magnetic storage, they do not replicate data across zones or prevent database downtime in the event of an infrastructure failure or primary node crash.
- ✗
Disable the deletion protection feature for all instances.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling deletion protection increases the risk of accidental resource termination, which is the opposite of a resilient architecture. Deletion protection should be enabled for production databases to prevent human error from resulting in data loss, as it requires an additional step to modify the instance before it can be deleted.
Visual reference
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every SAA-C03 question from scratch — 149 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
This SAA-C03 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 SAA-C03 exam.