SAA-C03 Design Resilient Architectures Practice Question
A financial services company runs a critical application on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. The application writes to an Amazon RDS for MySQL database. The company needs a recovery point objective (RPO) of 1 second and a recovery time objective (RTO) of 1 minute for the database in the event of a Regional disaster. Which solution meets these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that cross-Region read replicas or snapshot copies can meet a 1-second RPO and 1-minute RTO, when their replication lag and restore times are much higher.
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
✓
Use an Amazon Aurora global database with a secondary Region, and perform a managed planned failover or unplanned failover to the secondary Region.
Amazon Aurora global database is designed for cross-Region disaster recovery with low latency replication and fast failover. Replication typically completes in under one second, satisfying the RPO. A managed failover promotes the secondary Region to primary in under a minute, satisfying the RTO. This is the appropriate choice for a MySQL-compatible workload with stringent recovery requirements.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure an RDS for MySQL read replica in a second Region and promote it during a disaster.
Why it's wrong here
Cross-Region read replicas use asynchronous replication, which can lag behind the primary by seconds or more, so the RPO may exceed 1 second. Promotion of a read replica also takes several minutes, exceeding the 1-minute RTO. This option does not meet the strict RPO and RTO requirements.
- ✗
Enable automated backups on the RDS for MySQL instance and copy the backups to a second Region using a cross-Region snapshot copy.
Why it's wrong here
Automated backups and cross-Region snapshot copies provide data durability, but restoring from a snapshot takes much longer than one minute. The RPO depends on the backup frequency, which is typically at least 5 minutes for automated backups. This approach cannot meet the 1-second RPO or the 1-minute RTO.
- ✗
Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) to continuously replicate data from the primary RDS instance to a second Region, and switch the application to the replica during a disaster.
Why it's wrong here
DMS can perform continuous replication, but it is not designed for sub-second RPO and does not provide an automatic failover mechanism. Managing DMS tasks adds operational overhead, and failover would require manual steps, likely exceeding the 1-minute RTO. This solution is not suitable for a critical financial application with strict recovery objectives.
- ✓
Use an Amazon Aurora global database with a secondary Region, and perform a managed planned failover or unplanned failover to the secondary Region.
Why this is correct
Aurora global database replicates data to a secondary Region with a typical latency of under one second, meeting the 1-second RPO. Failover to the secondary Region can be completed in under a minute, meeting the 1-minute RTO. This is the only option that provides both low RPO and low RTO across Regions for MySQL-compatible workloads.
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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
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