- A
Use Amazon Aurora Global Database for the database tier.
Aurora Global Database provides low RPO/RTO cross-region.
- B
Use a cross-region read replica for RDS and promote it during disaster.
Promoting a read replica can be done within minutes and RPO is seconds to minutes.
- C
Use EC2 AMI copy to another region and launch instances from the AMI.
Why wrong: AMI copy and instance launch can exceed 15 minutes.
- D
Use RDS cross-region snapshots and restore in the DR region.
Why wrong: Snapshot restore takes longer than 15 minutes.
- E
Configure RDS Multi-AZ in the primary region.
Why wrong: Multi-AZ is for HA within a region, not DR.
Question 1,220 of 1,746
Aurora Global Database vs Cross-Region Read Replica for DR
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 new disaster recovery solution for a critical application that runs on Amazon EC2 with an Amazon RDS for MySQL database. The Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is 15 minutes and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is 1 hour. Which TWO strategies meet these requirements? (Choose TWO.)
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 for the database tier.
Amazon Aurora Global Database supports cross-region replication with typical RPO of less than 1 second and RTO of less than 1 minute, easily meeting the 15-minute RTO and 1-hour RPO. The primary region writes are asynchronously replicated to up to five secondary regions, and in a disaster, you can promote a secondary region to full read/write in under a minute.
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 Aurora Global Database for the database tier.
Why this is correct
Aurora Global Database provides low RPO/RTO cross-region.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
Use a cross-region read replica for RDS and promote it during disaster.
Why this is correct
Promoting a read replica can be done within minutes and RPO is seconds to minutes.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use EC2 AMI copy to another region and launch instances from the AMI.
Why it's wrong here
AMI copy and instance launch can exceed 15 minutes.
- ✗
Use RDS cross-region snapshots and restore in the DR region.
Why it's wrong here
Snapshot restore takes longer than 15 minutes.
- ✗
Configure RDS Multi-AZ in the primary region.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ is for HA within a region, not DR.
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 can meet the RPO/RTO if properly configured and promoted quickly) with cross-region snapshots (which are too slow), or they mistakenly think Multi-AZ provides cross-region DR when it only protects against AZ failures within a single region.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Aurora Global Database uses a dedicated storage-level replication mechanism that bypasses the database engine, achieving sub-second replication lag even across continents. When promoting a secondary region, Aurora automatically applies any remaining redo logs before opening the database, ensuring zero data loss in most scenarios. In contrast, cross-region read replicas for standard RDS MySQL use asynchronous binlog replication, which can have seconds to minutes of lag and requires manual promotion steps that may exceed the 15-minute RTO.
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 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.
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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 for the database tier. — Amazon Aurora Global Database supports cross-region replication with typical RPO of less than 1 second and RTO of less than 1 minute, easily meeting the 15-minute RTO and 1-hour RPO. The primary region writes are asynchronously replicated to up to five secondary regions, and in a disaster, you can promote a secondary region to full read/write in under a minute.
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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 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 designing a disaster recovery solution for a critical application that runs on Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL. The application requires an RPO of 5 minutes and an RTO of 15 minutes. The primary database is in us-east-1. The recovery Region is us-west-2. Which TWO solutions meet these requirements? (Choose TWO.)
hard- A.Take manual snapshots periodically and copy them to us-west-2.
- ✓ B.Configure a cross-Region read replica for the RDS PostgreSQL instance in us-west-2.
- ✓ C.Enable Multi-AZ deployment in us-east-1 and use a read replica in us-west-2.
- D.Use Amazon Aurora Global Database with a secondary cluster in us-west-2.
- E.Use automated backups with cross-Region copy to us-west-2.
Why B: Both Option B and Option C meet the requirements. Option B: A cross-Region read replica for RDS PostgreSQL can be promoted to a standalone primary in minutes, satisfying the 15-minute RTO, and asynchronous replication typically has lag well under 5 minutes, meeting the 5-minute RPO. Option C: Enabling Multi-AZ ensures high availability within the primary region, but the key component for DR is the read replica in us-west-2. The combination does not prevent meeting the RPO/RTO; the read replica can be promoted quickly. Note that Multi-AZ alone does not provide cross-region DR, but when combined with a cross-Region read replica, it still meets the requirements. Option A: Manual snapshots cannot achieve 5-minute RPO due to snapshot frequency and restore times. Option D: Aurora Global Database is not supported for RDS PostgreSQL; it is for Aurora only. Option E: Automated backups provide daily snapshots, not sub-minute RPO, and cross-region copy adds delay, so RTO is too long.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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