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
Option A is correct because an Amazon Aurora DB cluster stores data across multiple Availability Zones and automatically fails over to an Aurora Replica (typically within 30 seconds or less) if the primary instance fails, providing high availability with minimal downtime. Option B is correct because an Amazon RDS Multi-AZ deployment maintains a synchronous standby replica in a different Availability Zone and automatically performs a DNS failover to the standby in the event of a primary failure, again with minimal downtime. Option C is incorrect because a Single-AZ deployment has no standby to fail over to; automated backups only enable point-in-time recovery, not automatic failover. Option D is incorrect because DynamoDB is a NoSQL key-value/document database, not a relational database, even though global tables provide multi-Region replication. Option E is incorrect because RDS Read Replicas are used for read scaling and are asynchronous; they do not provide automatic failover for 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
An Aurora DB cluster provisions writer and reader instances across multiple Availability Zones, with automatic failover to a reader if the writer fails. Storage is replicated across AZs, meeting the high availability and minimal downtime requirements.
- ✓
Amazon RDS Multi-AZ deployment
Why this is correct
Amazon RDS Multi-AZ maintains a synchronous standby replica in a second Availability Zone, with automatic failover to that standby typically completing in 60–120 seconds. This directly satisfies the stem's requirements for cross-AZ high availability and minimal-downtime automatic failover, without application changes or manual intervention.
- ✗
Amazon RDS Single-AZ deployment with automated backups
Why it's wrong here
Single-AZ deployment places the database in one Availability Zone, so no automatic failover to a second AZ occurs; automated backups restore data but do not provide multi-AZ high availability. It suits dev/test or cost-sensitive workloads tolerating downtime, not production systems needing minimal-downtime failover.
- ✗
Amazon DynamoDB with global tables
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB is a NoSQL key-value store, so it cannot satisfy the stem's relational database requirement; global tables replicate across Regions, not Availability Zones. It would be correct for multi-Region, low-latency NoSQL workloads needing active-active replication, not relational multi-AZ failover.
- ✗
Amazon RDS Read Replica
Why it's wrong here
A Read Replica serves read scaling and can be promoted manually, but promotion is not automatic failover and introduces downtime; it also uses asynchronous replication. It would suit offloading read-heavy reporting traffic, not the stem's requirement for automatic multi-AZ failover with minimal downtime.
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