- A
Enable EBS Recycle Bin with a retention rule of 15 minutes.
Why wrong: Recycle Bin protects against deletion, but does not create snapshots.
- B
Change the EBS volume type to io2 Block Express.
Why wrong: Volume type does not affect snapshot frequency.
- C
Increase the snapshot frequency to every 15 minutes.
More frequent snapshots reduce the potential data loss window to 15 minutes, meeting the 15-minute RPO.
- D
Use EBS Multi-Attach to attach volumes to multiple instances for redundancy.
Why wrong: Multi-Attach provides concurrent access, not backup.
Question 1,405 of 1,546
Improve RPO by Increasing EBS Snapshot Frequency
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of reliability and business continuity. 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 SysOps administrator is designing a disaster recovery plan for a critical application that runs on EC2 instances with data stored on EBS volumes. The application requires an RPO of 15 minutes and an RTO of 2 hours. The current solution uses EBS snapshots taken every 6 hours. The administrator needs to improve the backup strategy to meet the RPO. What is the most cost-effective way to achieve this?
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
✓
Increase the snapshot frequency to every 15 minutes.
Option C is correct because increasing the snapshot frequency to every 15 minutes directly reduces the recovery point objective (RPO) from 6 hours to 15 minutes, meeting the requirement without incurring additional infrastructure costs. EBS snapshots are incremental and cost-effective, as only changed blocks are stored after the initial snapshot, making frequent snapshots a practical approach for achieving a low RPO.
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 EBS Recycle Bin with a retention rule of 15 minutes.
Why it's wrong here
Recycle Bin protects against deletion, but does not create snapshots.
- ✗
Change the EBS volume type to io2 Block Express.
Why it's wrong here
Volume type does not affect snapshot frequency.
- ✓
Increase the snapshot frequency to every 15 minutes.
Why this is correct
More frequent snapshots reduce the potential data loss window to 15 minutes, meeting the 15-minute RPO.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use EBS Multi-Attach to attach volumes to multiple instances for redundancy.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-Attach provides concurrent access, not backup.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may confuse the EBS Recycle Bin (which protects against accidental deletion) with a backup frequency solution, or think that changing volume types or using Multi-Attach can improve RPO, when neither addresses the need for more frequent recovery points.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
EBS snapshots are stored in Amazon S3 and are incremental—only blocks that have changed since the last snapshot are saved, which keeps storage costs low even with frequent snapshots. The RPO of 15 minutes is achievable by scheduling snapshots via Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager (DLM) or AWS Backup, which can automate snapshot creation at intervals as low as 1 hour (or 15 minutes using custom scripts with the AWS CLI/SDK). In a real-world scenario, frequent snapshots can be combined with cross-region snapshot copies to also meet a low RTO for regional failures.
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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
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.
- →
Reliability and Business Continuity — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
- →
Reliability and Business Continuity practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
- →
All SOA-C02 questions
1,546 questions across all exam domains
- →
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
- →
SOA-C02 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Related SOA-C02 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation.
Reliability and Business Continuity practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Reliability and Business Continuity.
Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation.
Security and Compliance practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Security and Compliance.
Networking and Content Delivery practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Networking and Content Delivery.
Cost and Performance Optimization practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Cost and Performance Optimization.
SOA-C02 fundamentals practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to SOA-C02 fundamentals.
SOA-C02 scenario practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to SOA-C02 scenario.
SOA-C02 troubleshooting practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to SOA-C02 troubleshooting.
Practice this exam
Start a free SOA-C02 practice session
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SOA-C02 question test?
Reliability and Business Continuity — This question tests Reliability and Business Continuity — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Increase the snapshot frequency to every 15 minutes. — Option C is correct because increasing the snapshot frequency to every 15 minutes directly reduces the recovery point objective (RPO) from 6 hours to 15 minutes, meeting the requirement without incurring additional infrastructure costs. EBS snapshots are incremental and cost-effective, as only changed blocks are stored after the initial snapshot, making frequent snapshots a practical approach for achieving a low RPO.
What should I do if I get this SOA-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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Keep practising
More SOA-C02 practice questions
- A company uses an Amazon DynamoDB table with on-demand capacity mode. The table handles a workload with a steady baselin…
- A company uses Amazon CloudWatch Logs to store application logs. The SysOps administrator needs to count the occurrences…
- A SysOps administrator needs to monitor the CPU utilization of an Amazon EC2 instance and send an alert when it exceeds…
- A SysOps administrator needs to monitor the CPU utilization of an Amazon EC2 instance fleet and send an alert when the a…
- A company's security policy requires that all Amazon S3 buckets must have server-side encryption enabled. The SysOps adm…
- A SysOps administrator uses AWS CloudFormation to deploy a stack that includes an Amazon EC2 instance. The administrator…
Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.