SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is migrating a large Oracle database to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL. The migration must have minimal downtime and support ongoing replication. Which AWS service 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
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AWS Database Migration Service
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS), is the correct answer because it is specifically designed for migrating databases to AWS with minimal downtime, and it supports ongoing replication from Oracle to Aurora PostgreSQL using change data capture (CDC). Option A is incorrect because AWS Application Discovery Service is used for discovering on-premises servers and applications, not for database migration. Option B is incorrect because AWS Server Migration Service (now part of SMS) is for migrating virtual machines, not databases. Option D is incorrect because AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT) is used to convert the database schema from one engine to another, not for ongoing replication; it is often used alongside DMS.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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AWS Application Discovery Service
Why it's wrong here
Application Discovery Service collects on-premises server and dependency inventory for migration planning; it performs no database replication. It is tempting because it is a genuine migration-related service, and would be correct for building an application portfolio before migrating, not for replicating an Oracle database into Aurora PostgreSQL with minimal downtime.
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AWS Server Migration Service
Why it's wrong here
Server Migration Service replicates whole on-premises servers (VMs) to EC2, not database rows into Aurora PostgreSQL, so it cannot perform the schema conversion or ongoing Oracle-to-PostgreSQL replication this migration needs. It is tempting when a broad lift-and-shift of server images is the goal, but AWS DMS handles heterogeneous database migration with continuous replication.
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AWS Database Migration Service
Why this is correct
AWS Database Migration Service performs heterogeneous Oracle-to-Aurora PostgreSQL conversion and supports ongoing change data capture replication, keeping the source and target synchronised. This satisfies the minimal-downtime constraint, since cutover happens only after replication has caught up.
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AWS Schema Conversion Tool
Why it's wrong here
The Schema Conversion Tool only converts and assesses schema and stored code between engines; it performs no data movement or ongoing replication, so minimal-downtime cutover is impossible with it alone. It is the right choice for translating Oracle DDL and PL/SQL to PostgreSQL, but AWS DMS must carry the data and replicate changes.
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