SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is migrating a monolithic application to microservices on AWS. The application uses a shared MySQL database. The team wants to decouple the database per microservice. Which strategy should the team use to minimize downtime during migration?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is equating database replication with decoupling; candidates may choose DMS because it sounds like a migration tool, but it does not achieve the architectural goal of per-service databases with minimal downtime.
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 the strangler fig pattern to gradually migrate functionality to microservices, each with its own database.
The strangler fig pattern allows incremental migration of functionality from a monolith to microservices, each with its own database, while the monolith continues to operate. This minimizes downtime because changes are gradual and can be rolled back. By decoupling databases per microservice over time, the team avoids a big-bang rewrite and can manage data migration carefully.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Rehost the application on EC2 and use a single RDS MySQL instance for all microservices.
Why it's wrong here
Rehosting on EC2 with one shared RDS MySQL instance preserves the monolithic coupling the team must remove, so per-microservice databases never materialise and downtime is incurred without benefit. It is tempting as lift-and-shift, the correct approach when the goal is rapid migration with minimal code change rather than decomposition.
- ✓
Use the strangler fig pattern to gradually migrate functionality to microservices, each with its own database.
Why this is correct
The strangler fig pattern incrementally routes functionality from the monolith to microservices, each owning its own database, so the shared MySQL schema is decomposed gradually rather than in one cutover. This satisfies the minimal-downtime constraint, since the monolith keeps serving traffic throughout and can be retired once migration completes.
- ✗
Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) to replicate the shared database to multiple target databases in real time.
Why it's wrong here
DMS real-time replication copies data but does not split one shared schema into independently owned per-service databases; the schema decomposition and application rewrites still cause downtime. It is tempting because DMS is the right tool for homogeneous or heterogeneous database migrations where the target schema already exists.
- ✗
Rewrite the entire application as microservices in a single release, using a shared database initially.
Why it's wrong here
A single big-bang release rewriting everything while still sharing one database leaves the coupling in place and concentrates all cutover risk into one outage window. It is tempting as a clean-slate modernisation, correct when the application is small enough to rewrite and downtime is acceptable.
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Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
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