Match each AWS backup and disaster recovery service to its feature.
Drag a concept onto its matching description — or click a concept then click the description.
Centralized backup management
Automatic object replication across regions
High availability with standby replica
Read scaling and cross-region disaster recovery
Continuous replication for DR
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
AWS Backup: Centralized backup service that automates and consolidates backup tasks across AWS services.
The correct matches are: AWS Backup for centralized automation, AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery for continuous replication, AWS Storage Gateway for hybrid cloud storage, and AWS Snowball for offline transfer. Common confusions involve swapping the centralized backup and replication functions.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
AWS Backup: Centralized backup service that automates and consolidates backup tasks across AWS services.
Why this is correct
AWS Backup is a fully managed, policy-based service that centralizes and automates the creation, retention, and lifecycle management of snapshots and backups across supported AWS services such as EC2, RDS, EFS, and DynamoDB. It provides a unified dashboard for enforcing backup plans with schedules, encryption, cross-region and cross-account copying, and IAM-based access control, which simplifies compliance and operational management by replacing per-service manual processes.
AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery: Continuous block-level replication for fast recovery of applications.
Why this is correct
AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (DRS) uses a lightweight agent installed on source servers to continuously replicate data at the block level to a staging area in the selected AWS Region, achieving a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) measured in seconds. When recovery is initiated, DRS converts the replicated blocks into a fully provisioned, running application environment in minutes, enabling rapid failover with a high-confidence Recovery Time Objective (RTO). This is distinct from periodic backup snapshots because it maintains ongoing, block-level synchronization rather than capturing point-in-time images.
AWS Storage Gateway: Hybrid cloud storage service that provides on-premises access to virtually unlimited cloud storage.
Why this is correct
AWS Storage Gateway is a hybrid cloud storage service that integrates on-premises applications with Amazon S3, EBS, or Glacier through a virtual appliance running in your data center. It provides three gateway types—File Gateway, Volume Gateway, and Tape Gateway—to expose cloud-backed storage via NFS/SMB, iSCSI, or virtual tape libraries, with local caching for low-latency access while asynchronously persisting data to AWS, making it a common tool for backup, disaster recovery, and cloud migration.
AWS Snowball: Physical device for offline data transfer to AWS.
Why this is correct
AWS Snowball is a rugged, tamper-resistant physical device that AWS ships to your site for offline data transfer to the cloud, enabling large datasets (up to petabytes) to be moved when internet bandwidth is insufficient, unreliable, or too costly. You load data onto the device over a local network, encrypt it with 256-bit keys managed through AWS, and return it—after which AWS uploads it into your S3 bucket, bypassing network bottlenecks and making it an essential tool for bulk data migration or edge computing in disconnected environments.
AWS Backup: Continuous block-level replication for fast recovery of applications.
Why it's wrong here
This pairing is incorrect because AWS Backup does not perform continuous block-level replication; instead, it creates scheduled, point-in-time snapshots and backups across services like EC2, RDS, and EFS, which are stored as versions of data at specific moments. The described function—continuous block-level replication for fast recovery—is the core purpose of AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (DRS), which replicates changes continuously to a staging area to minimize data loss. Therefore, this definition belongs to DRS, not AWS Backup.
AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery: Centralized backup service that automates and consolidates backup tasks across AWS services.
Why it's wrong here
This pairing is incorrect because AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (DRS) is not a centralized backup automation service; it focuses on continuous block-level replication of entire servers to a staging area, allowing you to launch a recovery environment quickly when disasters occur. The service that consolidates and automates backup tasks across AWS services—including policy-based scheduling, retention, and cross-region copying—is AWS Backup, which manages snapshots and backups in a unified manner. Thus, this definition describes AWS Backup, not DRS.
Quick reference
| 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
About these practice questions
This SOA-C02 question is part of Courseiva's 1,169-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 →
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.