SOA-C02 Reliability and Business Continuity Practice Question
A company uses AWS CloudFormation to deploy a multi-tier application. The stack includes an RDS DB instance with automated backups enabled. The SysOps administrator needs to ensure that the database can be recovered to any point within the last 35 days with minimal data loss. What should the administrator do?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse manual snapshots or AWS Backup with the point-in-time recovery capability that only automated backups provide, leading them to choose options that offer only full snapshot recovery rather than granular log-based restore.
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 the backup retention period to 35 days.
Automated backups in RDS allow point-in-time recovery (PITR) to any second within the backup retention period. By setting the retention period to 35 days, the administrator enables recovery to any point within that window, minimizing data loss to the last committed transaction before the restore time.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create a manual snapshot daily and retain 35 snapshots.
Why it's wrong here
Manual snapshots capture the database state only at the exact moment the snapshot is taken. Retaining 35 daily snapshots gives you 35 discrete restore points, but you cannot roll back to a specific second within that interval. Because point-in-time recovery requires continuous transaction log playback, daily manual snapshots do not satisfy the requirement to restore to any point in the last 35 days.
- ✓
Set the backup retention period to 35 days.
Why this is correct
Setting the backup retention period to 35 days on the RDS instance enables automated backups that include daily snapshots and transaction logs. These logs allow point-in-time recovery to any second within the retention window, which is exactly what the application needs. RDS supports a maximum retention period of 35 days, so this directly meets the stated requirement without additional tooling.
- ✗
Enable Multi-AZ on the RDS instance.
Why it's wrong here
Enabling Multi-AZ on the RDS instance provides a synchronously replicated standby in a different Availability Zone for automatic failover during maintenance or failures. It does not alter backup retention or add any kind of point-in-time recovery capability. The feature is designed for high availability, not for data recovery, so it cannot help meet the 35-day restore requirement.
- ✗
Configure AWS Backup with a 35-day backup plan.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Backup can be used, but by default RDS automated backups have a retention of 1 day; the administrator needs to set it to 35 days explicitly. However, the simplest way is to adjust the backup retention period directly on the RDS instance.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SOA-C02 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 SOA-C02 exam.