SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Question
A company is using AWS CloudFormation to manage its infrastructure. They have a production stack that creates an Amazon RDS DB instance. The company wants to update the DB instance class to a larger size with minimal downtime. Which approach should they 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
✓
Edit the CloudFormation template to change the DBInstanceClass and update the stack directly.
Updating the CloudFormation stack directly with a new DBInstanceClass property will cause a reboot of the RDS DB instance, which typically has minimal downtime compared to creating a new instance. This is the standard approach for modifying RDS instance classes. Option A is incorrect because AutoScalingReplacingUpdate is an update policy for Auto Scaling groups, not applicable to RDS DB instances. Option B is incorrect because creating a new stack and deleting the old one would cause significant downtime and is not efficient. Option D is incorrect because AWS OpsWorks is not used for managing RDS instances.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Modify the DBInstanceClass property in the CloudFormation template and use an UpdatePolicy of AutoScalingReplacingUpdate.
Why it's wrong here
AutoScalingReplacingUpdate is a CloudFormation update policy for Auto Scaling groups, not for RDS DB instances. Using it on an RDS resource would not work as intended and would not result in a replacement.
- ✗
Create a new CloudFormation stack with the new DB instance class and delete the old stack.
Why it's wrong here
Creating a new stack and deleting the old one would cause more downtime and is not recommended.
- ✓
Edit the CloudFormation template to change the DBInstanceClass and update the stack directly.
Why this is correct
Updating the stack directly with the new instance class causes a reboot, which typically has minimal downtime. This is the correct approach for changing DB instance class.
- ✗
Use AWS OpsWorks to manage the DB instance and apply the change.
Why it's wrong here
AWS OpsWorks is not used for managing RDS instances; it is for configuration management.
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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.