SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is migrating a legacy monolithic e-commerce platform to AWS. The platform consists of a Java-based web application, an Oracle database, and a file server storing product images. The company's migration requirements are: (1) minimize downtime during cutover, (2) reduce operational overhead for the database, (3) enable future migration to microservices. The current on-premises environment experiences high I/O latency for the file server. The company has already set up a VPN connection to AWS and has installed the AWS Application Discovery Service agent on all servers. During the assessment, you discover that the Oracle database is 2 TB and the file server holds 5 TB of images. The web application is tightly coupled with the database and uses stored procedures. You need to design the migration approach. Which combination of actions should be taken?
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 ongoing replication to Amazon RDS for Oracle. Use S3 Transfer Acceleration to upload files to Amazon S3. Then cut over.
Using AWS DMS with ongoing replication minimizes downtime, RDS for Oracle reduces operational overhead, and S3 with Transfer Acceleration addresses high latency for file transfer. Option A is wrong because Snowball is offline and may cause longer cutover. Option B is wrong because EFS is not the best for image storage; S3 is better. Option D is wrong because refactoring to microservices during migration increases risk and complexity.
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 Snowball Edge to transfer the database and files. After data is loaded, cut over DNS to AWS.
Why it's wrong here
Snowball is offline; does not minimize downtime during cutover.
- ✗
Use AWS DMS for continuous replication of the database to Amazon RDS for Oracle. Use AWS DataSync to copy files to Amazon EFS. Then cut over.
Why it's wrong here
EFS is not optimal for image serving; S3 is better.
- ✓
Use AWS DMS with ongoing replication to Amazon RDS for Oracle. Use S3 Transfer Acceleration to upload files to Amazon S3. Then cut over.
Why this is correct
Minimizes downtime, reduces operational overhead, and addresses high latency.
- ✗
Refactor the application into microservices using Amazon ECS. Use Amazon RDS for Oracle and Amazon S3 for images. Then cut over gradually.
Why it's wrong here
Refactoring during migration increases complexity and risk.
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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Same concept, more angles
2 more ways this is tested on SAP-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A small business is migrating its on-premises infrastructure to AWS. The current environment consists of two VMs running a LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) and a separate file server. The business has limited IT staff and wants to minimize operational overhead. They also want to ensure high availability for the web application. The company has a modest budget and is looking for a cost-effective solution. You need to design the migration. Which approach should be taken?
easy- A.Migrate the VMs to two EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group behind an ALB. Use RDS for MySQL Multi-AZ.
- B.Use Amazon Lightsail to host the entire application on a single instance with a managed database.
- ✓ C.Use AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy the web application. Use Amazon RDS for MySQL Multi-AZ for the database. Use S3 for file storage.
- D.Containerize the application and run on Amazon ECS with Fargate. Use Amazon RDS for MySQL.
Why C: The best approach because AWS Elastic Beanstalk provides a managed platform for the web application, reducing operational overhead. Amazon RDS for MySQL Multi-AZ ensures high availability for the database with automatic failover. Using S3 for file storage is cost-effective and scalable. Option A (EC2 Auto Scaling with ALB) requires more management than Elastic Beanstalk. Option B (Lightsail on a single instance) does not provide high availability. Option D (ECS Fargate) introduces containerization complexity and higher cost, which is not ideal for a small business with limited IT staff and a modest budget.
Variation 2. A retail company is migrating its e-commerce platform from a monolith running on a single on-premises server to AWS. The current application consists of a Java-based web server, a MySQL database, and a caching layer using Redis. The company wants to modernize the architecture by adopting microservices, using serverless where possible, and minimizing operational overhead. The migration must be completed within six months with minimal disruption to ongoing operations. The solutions architect proposes the following initial steps: containerize the Java application and run it on Amazon ECS with Fargate, migrate the MySQL database to Amazon Aurora Serverless v2, and replace Redis with Amazon ElastiCache for Redis Serverless. However, the team is concerned about the complexity of the migration and the potential for downtime. Which recommendation should the solutions architect make to address these concerns?
easy- A.Rewrite the entire application as microservices from scratch and deploy them in a new AWS environment. Cut over all traffic at once after testing.
- B.Use AWS Blue/Green deployment for the monolith to reduce downtime, then migrate to microservices after the deployment is stable.
- ✓ C.Use the Strangler Fig pattern to incrementally replace monolith functionality with microservices, routing traffic to new services as they are built.
- D.Perform a lift-and-shift migration of the monolith to EC2 instances, then gradually refactor into microservices over the next year.
Why C: The Strangler Fig pattern allows the team to incrementally replace specific functionalities of the monolithic e-commerce platform with microservices, routing traffic to the new services as they are built. This minimizes disruption and downtime by avoiding a big-bang cutover, and it aligns with the goal of modernizing to microservices and serverless within the six-month timeline. The pattern leverages an existing ingress controller (e.g., an Application Load Balancer with path-based routing) to gradually shift requests from the monolith to new services running on Amazon ECS with Fargate, while the database and caching layers are migrated separately with minimal impact.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.