SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is building a new application that requires a relational database with high availability across multiple Availability Zones. The database must automatically failover with minimal downtime. Which two AWS services or features meet these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates may overlook the 'relational database' requirement and select DynamoDB (a NoSQL service) or assume that RDS Read Replica provides automatic failover, when in fact it requires manual promotion and does not meet the minimal downtime requirement.
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
✓
Amazon Aurora DB cluster with multiple Availability Zones
Amazon Aurora DB cluster with multiple Availability Zones meets the requirements because Aurora automatically replicates data across three Availability Zones by default, providing high availability and automatic failover with minimal downtime (typically under 30 seconds). Aurora's distributed storage layer allows the primary instance to fail over to a read replica in another AZ without data loss, making it ideal for applications requiring a relational database with multi-AZ high availability.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Amazon Aurora DB cluster with multiple Availability Zones
Why this is correct
Aurora automatically fails over to a replica in another AZ.
- ✓
Amazon RDS Multi-AZ deployment
Why this is correct
Provides automatic failover to a standby in another AZ.
- ✗
Amazon RDS Single-AZ deployment with automated backups
Why it's wrong here
No automatic failover; single point of failure.
- ✗
Amazon DynamoDB with global tables
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB is NoSQL, not relational.
- ✗
Amazon RDS Read Replica
Why it's wrong here
Read replicas are for read scaling; failover is manual.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
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