SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Question
A solutions architect is reviewing an existing three-tier application running on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. The database tier uses Amazon RDS for MySQL with a single Availability Zone deployment. The business requires improved resilience and wants to minimize changes to the application. The RPO is 5 minutes and the RTO is 2 minutes. Which change should the architect recommend?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse read replicas with Multi-AZ standby replicas, assuming that a read replica can provide automatic failover for writes.
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
✓
Convert the RDS instance to a Multi-AZ deployment with a standby replica in another Availability Zone.
A Multi-AZ deployment provides synchronous standby replication and automatic failover to a second Availability Zone, meeting the 2-minute RTO without application changes. Read replicas, backup restores, and NoSQL migration either require manual steps, longer recovery, or significant code changes, so they do not satisfy the constraints.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Convert the RDS instance to a Multi-AZ deployment with a standby replica in another Availability Zone.
Why this is correct
Multi-AZ creates a synchronous standby in a second Availability Zone and automatically fails over the DNS endpoint, typically within one to two minutes. It requires no application changes because the endpoint remains the same. This meets the 2-minute RTO and near-zero RPO for Availability Zone failure, making it the most appropriate resilience improvement for the existing database tier.
- ✗
Migrate the database to Amazon DynamoDB with global tables and modify the application to use the DynamoDB API.
Why it's wrong here
Global tables provide multi-Region active-active replication, but migrating from MySQL to DynamoDB requires significant application rewrites, violating the minimize-changes requirement. It also introduces a different data model and does not preserve existing SQL behavior. Although resilient, this option is disproportionate and not the least disruptive way to achieve the stated RTO and RPO.
- ✗
Create a read replica in another Availability Zone and update the application to send writes to the read replica during a failure.
Why it's wrong here
Read replicas use asynchronous replication and cannot accept writes unless promoted, which requires manual intervention and application connection string changes. The promotion process can take longer than the 2-minute RTO, and the asynchronous lag may exceed the 5-minute RPO. This option also violates the requirement to minimize application changes, so it is not suitable.
- ✗
Enable automated backups with a 5-minute backup window and restore the database to a new instance if a failure occurs.
Why it's wrong here
Automated backups are snapshots taken once daily plus transaction logs; restoring creates a new instance and can take much longer than the 2-minute RTO. The recovery point is not guaranteed to be within 5 minutes. This approach also requires changing the application endpoint and does not provide automatic failover, so it fails both RTO and operational simplicity requirements.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
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.