SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is migrating a critical application from on-premises to AWS. The application uses a Microsoft SQL Server database with Always On Availability Groups for high availability. The company wants to use Amazon RDS for SQL Server to reduce management overhead. The database size is 500 GB. The migration must have minimal downtime and support transactional consistency. The company has a VPN connection to AWS. Which migration strategy should the company use?
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 AWS DMS with a full-load migration and ongoing replication from the on-premises SQL Server to RDS for SQL Server.
AWS DMS supports ongoing replication from SQL Server to RDS for SQL Server using native CDC capabilities, enabling minimal downtime. Option B is wrong because native backup/restore requires downtime and does not support ongoing replication. Option C is wrong because exporting data with SQL Server Import/Export Wizard requires downtime and does not support ongoing sync. Option D is wrong because SCT is for schema conversion, not data migration; also, the question states the database is SQL Server to RDS for SQL Server, so schema conversion is not needed.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use AWS DMS with a full-load migration and ongoing replication from the on-premises SQL Server to RDS for SQL Server.
Why this is correct
DMS supports full load and CDC for minimal downtime.
- ✗
Take a full backup of the database, restore it to RDS, and then schedule a final backup and restore after cutting over.
Why it's wrong here
This approach has significant downtime and does not support ongoing replication.
- ✗
Use the SQL Server Import/Export Wizard to copy data from on-premises to RDS over the VPN.
Why it's wrong here
This is a one-time copy with downtime; not suitable for minimal downtime migrations.
- ✗
Use AWS SCT to convert the database schema and then use AWS DMS for data migration.
Why it's wrong here
SCT is not needed for homogeneous migration; DMS alone can handle SQL Server to SQL Server.
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