SOA-C02 Reliability and Business Continuity Practice Question

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

• ✓

  AWS Backup

  Why this is correct

  AWS Backup is the correct answer because it natively supports backing up on-premises workloads via the AWS Backup Gateway, which connects your on-premises virtual machines to AWS Backup. This service allows you to define backup policies, retention rules, and lifecycle management in a single place, covering both cloud and on-premises resources. Unlike simple data replication or file syncing tools, AWS Backup provides a centralized, scheduled, and auditable backup solution that ensures recoverability of on-premises VMs.

• ✗

  AWS Snowball

  Why it's wrong here

  AWS Snowball is an offline data transfer appliance used for migrating massive datasets or performing one-time bulk transfers, not for continuous or scheduled backups. It requires shipping physical hardware, which introduces latency and makes it impractical for ongoing backup operations. Snowball does not support incremental backups, automated scheduling, or instant recovery, which are essential for a dynamic backup strategy. Therefore, it is unsuitable as a primary backup mechanism for on-premises workloads.

• ✓

  AWS Storage Gateway (File Gateway)

  Why this is correct

  AWS Storage Gateway File Gateway is a hybrid cloud storage service that presents an NFS/SMB file interface to on-premises applications while storing data as objects in Amazon S3. It caches frequently accessed data locally and asynchronously uploads changes to S3, which can serve a backup-like role by ensuring data is in S3. However, it lacks the backup-specific features of AWS Backup, such as automated backup scheduling, retention policies, and centralized lifecycle management. It is a storage gateway, not a managed backup service, so it is not the best answer for a comprehensive backup strategy.

• ✗

  Amazon EFS

  Why it's wrong here

  Amazon EFS is a fully managed network file system that provides scalable elastic file storage for Linux workloads, but it is not a backup service. EFS is designed for shared file access in the cloud and its native features include encryption and replication, but it does not create point-in-time backups or manage retention policies. While you can use EFS with AWS Backup, the service itself is a storage target, not a backup orchestrator. It cannot directly back up on-premises workloads and is therefore irrelevant to this scenario.

• ✗

  S3 Transfer Acceleration

  Why it's wrong here

  S3 Transfer Acceleration is a feature of Amazon S3 that uses AWS edge locations and optimized network paths to speed up content uploads to S3. It simply improves transfer throughput by using remote endpoints and does not provide any backup capabilities such as scheduling, deduplication, or retention management. This service is useful for reducing upload time for large files, but it is not a backup solution and cannot protect on-premises data independently. It falls short of the requirement for a robust backup strategy and thus is clearly incorrect.

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