PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Question
An SAP system is deployed on EC2 with a Multi-AZ RDS for SAP ASE database. The operations team needs to ensure that database backups are stored in a separate AWS account for compliance. Which TWO actions should they take?
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 AWS KMS with cross-account permissions to allow the target account to decrypt and copy the snapshots.
The correct answers are C and D. Option C: Using AWS KMS with cross-account permissions allows the target account to decrypt and copy encrypted snapshots, enabling secure cross-account backup. Option D: AWS Backup with a cross-account backup policy can automatically copy RDS snapshots to another account, meeting compliance requirements. Option A is wrong because sharing snapshots publicly is a severe security risk. Option B is wrong because S3 cross-region replication is for S3 objects, not RDS snapshots. Option E is wrong because the RDS console does not have an automatic cross-account backup feature; this requires AWS Backup or manual snapshot sharing with KMS.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Share the snapshots publicly and then copy them to the target account.
Why it's wrong here
Public sharing is insecure and not recommended for compliance.
- ✗
Configure S3 cross-region replication for the automated backups.
Why it's wrong here
RDS backups are stored as snapshots, not in S3 directly.
- ✓
Use AWS KMS with cross-account permissions to allow the target account to decrypt and copy the snapshots.
Why this is correct
Cross-account KMS keys enable secure sharing of encrypted snapshots.
- ✓
Use AWS Backup with a cross-account backup policy to copy snapshots to the target account.
Why this is correct
AWS Backup supports cross-account backup policies.
- ✗
Enable automatic cross-account backup in the RDS console.
Why it's wrong here
RDS does not have a built-in cross-account backup feature.
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
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This PAS-C01 question is part of Courseiva's 1,616-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam 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.