- A
Use Amazon RDS Multi-AZ with synchronous replication. Use Elastic Load Balancing with cross-zone load balancing.
Why wrong: Multi-AZ is within a single region, not multi-region DR.
- B
Use Amazon DynamoDB global tables. Use an Application Load Balancer in each region with Route 53 weighted routing.
Why wrong: DynamoDB global tables are for NoSQL, not MySQL; weighted routing is not for failover.
- C
Use Amazon RDS for MySQL with a cross-region read replica. Use Amazon Route 53 failover routing with a health check on port 8080.
Why wrong: Cross-region read replica RPO is typically seconds, not sub-second.
- D
Use Amazon Aurora Global Database. Use Amazon Route 53 failover routing with a health check on port 8080.
Aurora Global Database offers sub-second replication; Route 53 failover routing provides fast DNS failover.
SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design for new solutions. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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 is designing a multi-region disaster recovery solution for a stateful web application on Amazon EC2 with an Amazon Aurora MySQL database. The RPO must be less than 1 second and RTO less than 5 minutes. The application uses a custom TCP port 8080. What is the MOST cost-effective architecture?
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
Use Amazon Aurora Global Database. Use Amazon Route 53 failover routing with a health check on port 8080.
Amazon Aurora Global Database provides cross-region replication with a typical lag of under 1 second, meeting the RPO requirement, and supports failover in under 1 minute, satisfying the RTO of less than 5 minutes. Combined with Route 53 failover routing and a health check on port 8080, this architecture enables rapid, automated traffic redirection to the secondary region without additional compute or storage costs beyond the Aurora storage and I/O.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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 Amazon RDS Multi-AZ with synchronous replication. Use Elastic Load Balancing with cross-zone load balancing.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ is within a single region, not multi-region DR.
- ✗
Use Amazon DynamoDB global tables. Use an Application Load Balancer in each region with Route 53 weighted routing.
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB global tables are for NoSQL, not MySQL; weighted routing is not for failover.
- ✗
Use Amazon RDS for MySQL with a cross-region read replica. Use Amazon Route 53 failover routing with a health check on port 8080.
Why it's wrong here
Cross-region read replica RPO is typically seconds, not sub-second.
- ✓
Use Amazon Aurora Global Database. Use Amazon Route 53 failover routing with a health check on port 8080.
Why this is correct
Aurora Global Database offers sub-second replication; Route 53 failover routing provides fast DNS failover.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse cross-region read replicas (which have asynchronous replication and manual failover) with Aurora Global Database (which provides near-synchronous replication and automated failover), leading them to choose Option C despite its inability to meet the strict RPO and RTO requirements.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Aurora Global Database uses a dedicated storage-level replication channel that bypasses the database engine, achieving sub-second replication lag even across continents. The failover process involves promoting the secondary region's cluster to a primary cluster, which typically completes in under 1 minute because Aurora does not need to replay a large transaction log. Route 53 health checks on port 8080 require a TCP health check configuration, which is supported for custom ports and ensures that traffic is only routed to the healthy region.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAP-C02 question test?
Design for New Solutions — This question tests Design for New Solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use Amazon Aurora Global Database. Use Amazon Route 53 failover routing with a health check on port 8080. — Amazon Aurora Global Database provides cross-region replication with a typical lag of under 1 second, meeting the RPO requirement, and supports failover in under 1 minute, satisfying the RTO of less than 5 minutes. Combined with Route 53 failover routing and a health check on port 8080, this architecture enables rapid, automated traffic redirection to the secondary region without additional compute or storage costs beyond the Aurora storage and I/O.
What should I do if I get this SAP-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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