Quick Answer
The answer is Amazon RDS cross-Region read replica, Route 53 failover routing, and an Application Load Balancer. These three components form the backbone of a multi-region high availability architecture because the RDS cross-Region read replica provides asynchronous replication for disaster recovery and read scaling across Regions, Route 53 failover routing directs traffic away from an unhealthy Region to a healthy one using health checks, and the ALB distributes incoming traffic across targets within each Region, ensuring regional load balancing. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your ability to distinguish between relational and NoSQL solutions—a common trap is selecting DynamoDB global tables or VPC peering, but the former is for NoSQL and the latter is intra-Region only. Remember the mnemonic “RRA” for Relational, Route, and ALB to quickly recall the three pillars of cross-Region database HA.
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of accelerate workload migration and modernization. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 company is migrating a critical application to AWS and needs to ensure high availability across AWS Regions. The application uses a relational database. Which THREE components are necessary for this multi-region architecture?
Amazon RDS Multi-AZ deployment
Why wrong: Multi-AZ is within a region, not cross-region.
Application Load Balancer in each region
Distributes traffic within region.
Amazon Route 53 with failover routing policy
Directs traffic to healthy region.
Amazon RDS cross-Region read replica
Provides cross-region DR.
VPC peering between regions
Why wrong: Not needed for multi-region HA.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Application Load Balancer in each region
For multi-region HA, an RDS cross-region read replica provides DR, Route 53 with failover routing directs traffic, and a global secondary index in DynamoDB is not relevant but actually for NoSQL. However, correct options: cross-region read replica, Route 53 failover, and an Application Load Balancer for regional distribution. Option D is wrong because VPC peering is within region. Option E is wrong because DynamoDB global tables are for NoSQL.
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.
Amazon RDS Multi-AZ deployment
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ is within a region, not cross-region.
Application Load Balancer in each region
Why this is correct
Distributes traffic within region.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon Route 53 with failover routing policy
Why this is correct
Directs traffic to healthy region.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon RDS cross-Region read replica
Why this is correct
Provides cross-region DR.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
VPC peering between regions
Why it's wrong here
Not needed for multi-region HA.
Common exam traps
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
Identify which SAP-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
All SAP-C02 questions
1,746 questions across all exam domains
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
SAP-C02 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity.
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to Design for New Solutions.
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions.
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization.
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC.
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions.
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions.
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 IAM policy.
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions.
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 CloudFront.
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions.
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions.
Practice this exam
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization — This question tests Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Application Load Balancer in each region — For multi-region HA, an RDS cross-region read replica provides DR, Route 53 with failover routing directs traffic, and a global secondary index in DynamoDB is not relevant but actually for NoSQL. However, correct options: cross-region read replica, Route 53 failover, and an Application Load Balancer for regional distribution. Option D is wrong because VPC peering is within region. Option E is wrong because DynamoDB global tables are for NoSQL.
Identify which SAP-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026
This SAP-C02 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 SAP-C02 exam.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.