SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A startup is building a web application on AWS that requires a relational database. They expect unpredictable traffic patterns and want to minimize costs while ensuring high availability. Which database solution should they choose?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse 'relational database' with 'NoSQL' (DynamoDB) or choose a cheaper but non-HA option (Single-AZ RDS), overlooking that Aurora Serverless uniquely combines relational capabilities, automatic scaling, and built-in high availability at a cost-effective pay-per-request model.
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
✓
Amazon Aurora Serverless (MySQL-compatible)
Amazon Aurora Serverless (MySQL-compatible) is the correct choice because it automatically scales compute capacity based on actual application demand, making it ideal for unpredictable traffic patterns. It provides high availability through multi-AZ storage and automated failover, while minimizing costs by only charging for consumed capacity during active periods.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon Redshift with concurrency scaling
Why it's wrong here
Redshift is a columnar analytics warehouse for OLAP workloads, not a transactional relational database for a web application's unpredictable traffic. It is tempting because concurrency scaling handles spiky analytical query loads, but it cannot serve the low-latency, high-volume OLTP reads and writes this scenario requires.
- ✓
Amazon Aurora Serverless (MySQL-compatible)
Why this is correct
Aurora Serverless automatically scales compute capacity up and down with unpredictable traffic and pauses when idle, so the startup pays only for capacity used. It also provides Multi-AZ high availability with automatic failover, satisfying both the cost-minimisation and availability requirements.
- ✗
Amazon RDS for MySQL with Single-AZ deployment
Why it's wrong here
Amazon RDS for MySQL with Single-AZ deployment fails the high-availability requirement: a single Availability Zone provides no automatic failover, so an AZ outage takes the database offline. It is tempting because RDS removes database administration overhead, and Single-AZ suits cost-sensitive workloads with predictable traffic where downtime is tolerable.
- ✗
Amazon DynamoDB with on-demand capacity
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB is a key-value and document store, not relational, so it cannot satisfy the stem's relational requirement. It is tempting because on-demand capacity genuinely handles unpredictable traffic without provisioning, and would be the right pick for a schemaless, single-digit-millisecond workload at any scale.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
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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.