SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design for new solutions. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company wants to migrate an on-premises relational database to Amazon RDS for MySQL with minimal downtime. The database is 500 GB in size. Which AWS service should be used for the initial data load and ongoing replication?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication.
Option B is correct. AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) can perform a full load and then ongoing replication using change data capture (CDC) to minimize downtime. Option A is incorrect because RDS does not support native replication from on-premises. Option C is incorrect because S3 is for storage, not database migration. Option D is incorrect because Snowball is for offline data transfer, not ongoing replication.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
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 to transfer the database files to RDS.
Why it's wrong here
Snowball is for offline transfer, not ongoing replication.
✗
Use an RDS read replica from the on-premises database.
Why it's wrong here
RDS read replicas only work within RDS, not from on-premises.
✓
Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication.
Why this is correct
DMS supports full load and CDC replication with minimal downtime.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
✗
Export the database to Amazon S3 and import into RDS.
Why it's wrong here
This method does not support ongoing replication and causes downtime.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
→Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
→Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
→Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related SAP-C02 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Design for New Solutions — This question tests Design for New Solutions — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication. — Option B is correct. AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) can perform a full load and then ongoing replication using change data capture (CDC) to minimize downtime. Option A is incorrect because RDS does not support native replication from on-premises. Option C is incorrect because S3 is for storage, not database migration. Option D is incorrect because Snowball is for offline data transfer, not ongoing replication.
What should I do if I get this SAP-C02 question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related SAP-C02 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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Question Discussion
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