The answer is to create a cross-Region read replica of the RDS MySQL DB instance. This meets the 15-minute RTO and 1-hour RPO because cross-Region read replicas use asynchronous replication with typical lag measured in seconds to minutes, allowing you to promote the replica to a standalone primary instance in a different Region within minutes, far faster than restoring from a snapshot or copying backups. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of balancing replication lag against failover speed—a common trap is choosing snapshot-based recovery, which cannot achieve a 15-minute RTO due to restoration time. Remember the key distinction: cross-Region read replicas provide near-real-time data availability for disaster recovery, while Multi-AZ is for high availability within a single Region. Memory tip: “Replica for rapid recovery, snapshot for slow survival.”
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 disaster recovery solution for a critical application running on EC2 with data in an Amazon RDS MySQL Multi-AZ DB instance. The recovery time objective (RTO) is 15 minutes and recovery point objective (RPO) is 1 hour. Which strategy meets these requirements?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create a cross-Region read replica of the RDS DB instance.
Option B is correct because a cross-Region read replica of an Amazon RDS MySQL DB instance provides asynchronous replication with a typical replication lag of seconds to minutes, meeting the RPO of 1 hour and RTO of 15 minutes by promoting the replica to a standalone instance in the event of a disaster. This approach minimizes data loss and allows rapid failover without relying on snapshot restoration or backup copying.
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.
✗
Enable Multi-AZ in a different Region.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ is within a single Region.
✓
Create a cross-Region read replica of the RDS DB instance.
Why this is correct
Promoting a read replica can achieve RTO under 15 minutes and RPO under 1 hour.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Take daily snapshots of the RDS DB instance and copy them to another Region.
Why it's wrong here
Daily snapshots do not meet RPO of 1 hour.
✗
Use Amazon S3 cross-Region replication for database backups.
Why it's wrong here
S3 replication does not apply to live RDS data.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Multi-AZ (which is Region-bound) with cross-Region disaster recovery, or they assume daily snapshots are sufficient for a 1-hour RPO, failing to recognize that snapshot frequency must match the RPO window.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cross-Region read replicas use MySQL's native asynchronous replication, where the source instance writes binary log (binlog) events to a log file, and the replica continuously applies those events. The replication lag is typically sub-second to a few minutes, but can increase under heavy write loads or network latency; monitoring the 'ReplicaLag' CloudWatch metric is critical to ensure RPO compliance. In a disaster, promoting the read replica takes approximately 1-2 minutes, making it suitable for a 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.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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: Create a cross-Region read replica of the RDS DB instance. — Option B is correct because a cross-Region read replica of an Amazon RDS MySQL DB instance provides asynchronous replication with a typical replication lag of seconds to minutes, meeting the RPO of 1 hour and RTO of 15 minutes by promoting the replica to a standalone instance in the event of a disaster. This approach minimizes data loss and allows rapid failover without relying on snapshot restoration or backup copying.
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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Question Discussion
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