PAS-C01 Migration Practice Question
An organization is migrating a multi-tier application to AWS. The web tier runs on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. The database tier uses a self-managed MySQL instance on EC2. To achieve high availability, they plan to use Multi-AZ deployment. Which migration step should they prioritize to ensure minimal downtime?
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
✓
Set up continuous replication using DMS and perform a cutover
Setting up continuous replication using AWS DMS (Database Migration Service) ensures data is synchronized between the source and target databases with minimal lag. This allows a quick cutover, significantly reducing downtime during migration. Option A is correct. Option B is not prioritized for minimal downtime as snapshots require downtime to restore. Option C is wrong because a one-time full load alone would miss ongoing changes, causing data loss. Option D defeats the high-availability goal by not using Multi-AZ from the start.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Set up continuous replication using DMS and perform a cutover
Why this is correct
Continuous replication enables minimal downtime cutover.
- ✗
Configure Amazon EBS snapshots for the database volume
Why it's wrong here
Snapshots are for backup, not for ongoing replication.
- ✗
Use AWS DMS for one-time full load only
Why it's wrong here
One-time load does not allow cutover with zero downtime.
- ✗
Launch the database in a single Availability Zone first
Why it's wrong here
Single AZ does not provide high availability.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every PAS-C01 question from scratch — 1,616 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PAS-C01 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 PAS-C01 exam.