This SAA-C03 practice question tests your understanding of design resilient architectures. 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 ticket booking system stores uploaded documents in S3. The business requires a copy in another AWS Region for disaster recovery. What should be configured?
S3 lifecycle transition to Glacier Flexible Retrieval
Why wrong: Lifecycle transition changes storage class, not Region.
An EBS snapshot schedule
Why wrong: EBS snapshots do not apply to S3 objects.
S3 Cross-Region Replication with versioning enabled
CRR asynchronously replicates objects to a bucket in another Region and requires versioning.
A CloudFront distribution
Why wrong: CloudFront caches content but is not a durable DR copy.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
S3 Cross-Region Replication with versioning enabled
S3 Cross-Region Replication (CRR) with versioning enabled automatically copies objects from a source bucket in one AWS Region to a destination bucket in another Region, meeting the disaster recovery requirement for a geographically separate copy. Versioning must be enabled on both buckets to support replication of all object versions, ensuring consistency and recoverability. This is the native S3 feature designed for cross-region data redundancy without custom scripting or third-party tools.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
S3 lifecycle transition to Glacier Flexible Retrieval
Why it's wrong here
Lifecycle transition changes storage class, not Region.
An EBS snapshot schedule
Why it's wrong here
EBS snapshots do not apply to S3 objects.
S3 Cross-Region Replication with versioning enabled
Why this is correct
CRR asynchronously replicates objects to a bucket in another Region and requires versioning.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
A CloudFront distribution
Why it's wrong here
CloudFront caches content but is not a durable DR copy.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse S3 Cross-Region Replication with S3 lifecycle policies or other storage services like EBS snapshots, failing to recognize that CRR is the only option that directly creates a second copy of S3 objects in a different AWS Region for disaster recovery.
Detailed technical explanation
S3 CRR uses asynchronous replication, meaning there is a small lag (typically seconds to minutes) between an object being written to the source bucket and its arrival in the destination bucket; this is important for understanding RPO (Recovery Point Objective). Replication rules can be scoped by prefix, tag, or object size, and require IAM roles with permissions to read from the source and write to the destination. Versioning must be enabled on both buckets because CRR replicates object versions, delete markers, and metadata; if versioning is suspended, replication stops for new objects.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Design Resilient Architectures — This question tests Design Resilient Architectures — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: S3 Cross-Region Replication with versioning enabled — S3 Cross-Region Replication (CRR) with versioning enabled automatically copies objects from a source bucket in one AWS Region to a destination bucket in another Region, meeting the disaster recovery requirement for a geographically separate copy. Versioning must be enabled on both buckets to support replication of all object versions, ensuring consistency and recoverability. This is the native S3 feature designed for cross-region data redundancy without custom scripting or third-party tools.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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