Question 1easymultiple choice
Full question →easymultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company wants a disaster recovery setup for a web application. They need relatively quick recovery, but they can't afford running full production in the secondary location at all times. Which option best matches this requirement?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Distractor review
Pilot light: keep only essential infrastructure in the secondary location and scale up the application during a failure.
Pilot light reduces cost by running only minimal components, but the application tier is not already running. That typically makes recovery slower than designs that keep a partial, production-like stack ready.
B
Best answer
Warm standby: run a minimal but functional version of the application and supporting services in the secondary location, and scale up during a failure.
Warm standby balances cost and recovery time by keeping some capacity running in the secondary environment (for example, smaller Auto Scaling capacity for the app tier and replication for the data tier). When the primary fails, you fail over and scale out quickly.
C
Distractor review
Active-active: run full production in both the primary and secondary locations at the same time.
Active-active generally requires running full production workloads in both locations continuously. That is usually more expensive than the scenario described.
D
Distractor review
Backup and restore only: rely on periodic backups and restore the application after a failure.
Backup and restore provides disaster recovery without keeping a ready environment. Recovery is typically significantly slower because you must provision/restore services and data after the incident.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- 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.
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Question 2
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Question 5
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAA-C03 question test?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Warm standby: run a minimal but functional version of the application and supporting services in the secondary location, and scale up during a failure. — Warm standby is the best match. It provides relatively quick recovery by keeping a minimal, ready-to-run version of the application and critical dependencies in the secondary location (often with a smaller scale configuration). When a failure occurs, you fail over and scale up to handle the full workload. This meets the requirement of quick recovery without paying for full-time, full-capacity production in the secondary site. Pilot light is cheaper but usually slower because the application tier is scaled from near-zero. Active-active is typically too costly because it runs full production continuously in both locations. Backup and restore only tends to have the longest recovery time because services and data must be restored after the failure.
What should I do if I get this SAA-C03 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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