SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company wants to migrate a legacy monolithic application to AWS with minimal changes. The application currently runs on a single on-premises server with a Microsoft SQL Server database. The company wants to use AWS managed services to reduce operational overhead. Which combination of services should the company use to meet these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates might choose Option A thinking DynamoDB is a managed database service, but they overlook the requirement for minimal changes, which is broken by switching from a relational to a NoSQL database, or they might pick Option C not realizing SMS is deprecated and lacks the continuous replication capabilities of MGN.
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
✓
AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) to Amazon EC2, and AWS DMS to Amazon RDS for SQL Server
AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) enables lift-and-shift migration of the on-premises server to Amazon EC2 with minimal changes, while AWS DMS can migrate the Microsoft SQL Server database to Amazon RDS for SQL Server, a fully managed service that reduces operational overhead. This combination meets the requirement of minimal application changes and leverages AWS managed services for the database.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) to Amazon EC2, and AWS DMS to Amazon DynamoDB
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB is NoSQL; the application expects SQL Server, requiring significant changes.
- ✓
AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) to Amazon EC2, and AWS DMS to Amazon RDS for SQL Server
Why this is correct
MGN minimizes changes for server migration, DMS migrates the database to managed RDS.
- ✗
AWS Server Migration Service (SMS) to Amazon EC2, and AWS DMS to Amazon RDS for SQL Server
Why it's wrong here
AWS SMS is deprecated; AWS MGN is the recommended migration service.
- ✗
AWS CloudFormation to provision EC2 instances, and AWS DMS to Amazon RDS for SQL Server
Why it's wrong here
CloudFormation is for automation, not migration; the question requires minimal changes, not re-provisioning.
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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 application to AWS using the rehost (lift-and-shift) strategy. The application uses a proprietary database that is not supported by Amazon RDS. The company wants to automate the migration of multiple servers and minimize downtime. Which AWS service should be used to automate the server migration?
hard- A.AWS CloudFormation to recreate the server configuration.
- ✓ B.AWS Application Migration Service (AWS MGN).
- C.AWS Server Migration Service (SMS).
- D.AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) for the database and manual server migration.
Why B: AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) automates lift-and-shift with minimal downtime. Option A is wrong because AWS CloudFormation is for infrastructure provisioning, not migration. Option C is wrong because AWS Server Migration Service (SMS) is older and less automated compared to MGN. Option D is wrong because AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) is for databases, not servers.
Variation 2. A company is migrating a legacy application that uses SOAP web services to AWS. The application currently runs on a single on-premises server. The company wants to minimize changes and reduce operational overhead. Which approach should the company take?
medium- A.Refactor the SOAP web services to RESTful APIs and deploy on Amazon API Gateway and AWS Lambda.
- B.Containerize the application and deploy it on Amazon ECS using Fargate.
- ✓ C.Rehost the application on Amazon EC2 using AWS Application Migration Service (MGN).
- D.Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) to migrate the database and redeploy the application manually.
Why C: Rehosting the application on Amazon EC2 using AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) minimizes changes by lifting and shifting the entire on-premises server, including the SOAP web services, to AWS with minimal modification. This approach reduces operational overhead by automating server replication and cutover, avoiding the need to refactor or containerize the application, which aligns with the requirement to minimize changes.
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.