SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is migrating an on-premises monolithic application to AWS. The application uses a legacy database that cannot be easily refactored. The company wants to minimize changes to the application code while gaining scalability and high availability. Which migration strategy should the architect recommend?
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
✓
Rehost the application on Amazon EC2 and use Amazon RDS for the database.
Rehosting (lift-and-shift) involves moving the application and database to AWS infrastructure (EC2 and RDS) with minimal changes. This preserves the legacy database and allows the company to achieve scalability and HA using AWS features like Multi-AZ and Auto Scaling. Replatforming would require modifying the database engine; refactoring involves significant changes; and retiring removes the application.
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 Amazon EC2 and use Amazon RDS for the database.
Why this is correct
Rehosting moves the application as-is to EC2 and RDS, minimizing code changes while providing scalability and HA.
- ✗
Replatform the application to use AWS Elastic Beanstalk and Amazon DynamoDB.
Why it's wrong here
Replatforming would require changing the database to DynamoDB, which is not compatible with the legacy database and introduces code changes.
- ✗
Refactor the application to use a microservices architecture with Amazon Aurora.
Why it's wrong here
Refactoring requires significant code changes and a new database, contradicting the requirement to minimize changes.
- ✗
Retire the application and replace it with a SaaS solution.
Why it's wrong here
Retiring the application is not a migration strategy; it replaces the application entirely, which may not be acceptable.
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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 company is migrating a legacy on-premises application to AWS. The application uses a proprietary database that is not supported by Amazon RDS. The migration must minimize downtime and require minimal changes to the application. Which migration strategy should the company use?
medium- A.Migrate the database to Amazon RDS with a compatible engine and modify connection strings.
- ✓ B.Rehost the application on Amazon EC2 instances and migrate the database using AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication.
- C.Refactor the application to use Amazon Aurora and modify the code to use the Aurora query interface.
- D.Replace the database with Amazon DynamoDB and rewrite database access layer.
Why B: Rehosting (lift-and-shift) the application on Amazon EC2 allows the proprietary database to run without modification. Using AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication minimizes downtime by keeping the database synchronized until cutover. Option A is incorrect because the proprietary database is not supported by Amazon RDS, so migrating to RDS is not feasible without changing the database engine. Option C is incorrect because refactoring to Amazon Aurora would require modifying the application code to use Aurora's query interface, resulting in significant changes. Option D is incorrect because replacing the database with Amazon DynamoDB would necessitate rewriting the entire database access layer, which is not minimal change.
Variation 2. A company is migrating a legacy on-premises application to AWS. The application uses a proprietary database that runs on a single Windows server. The company wants to minimize downtime and avoid re-architecting the database. Which migration strategy should the solutions architect recommend?
hard- A.Retire the application and replace it with a SaaS solution
- ✓ B.Rehost using AWS Application Migration Service (CloudEndure)
- C.Re-architect the application to use Amazon DynamoDB
- D.Replatform by migrating the database to Amazon RDS for SQL Server
Why B: Rehost (lift-and-shift) is the best option because it moves the application without changes, minimizing downtime and avoiding re-architecture. Replatforming would require some changes, and re-architecting would involve significant rework. Retire is not applicable.
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.