- A
Enable Multi-AZ deployment in the primary region
Why wrong: Multi-AZ is for HA, not cross-region DR.
- B
Enable automated backups and restore to a new region when needed
Why wrong: Restoring in another region is time-consuming, likely exceeding RTO.
- C
Take daily manual snapshots and copy them to another region
Why wrong: RPO would be 24 hours, exceeding requirement.
- D
Create a cross-Region read replica in us-west-2 and promote it during a disaster
Replica replication is fast and promotion meets RTO.
Question 1,113 of 1,546
Using RDS Cross-Region Read Replica to Meet RPO <1 Hour and RTO <2 Hours
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 RDS MySQL database. The database must be available with a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of less than 1 hour and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of less than 2 hours. The primary region is us-east-1. Which solution meets these requirements?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"primary"Why it matters: Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
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
✓
Create a cross-Region read replica in us-west-2 and promote it during a disaster
Option D is correct because a cross-Region read replica in us-west-2 can be promoted to a standalone primary database in under 2 hours, and the replication lag is typically less than 1 hour, meeting both RPO and RTO requirements. This solution provides continuous asynchronous replication from the primary region, ensuring minimal data loss and fast failover without needing to restore from backups.
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 Multi-AZ deployment in the primary region
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ is for HA, not cross-region DR.
- ✗
Enable automated backups and restore to a new region when needed
Why it's wrong here
Restoring in another region is time-consuming, likely exceeding RTO.
- ✗
Take daily manual snapshots and copy them to another region
Why it's wrong here
RPO would be 24 hours, exceeding requirement.
- ✓
Create a cross-Region read replica in us-west-2 and promote it during a disaster
Why this is correct
Replica replication is fast and promotion meets RTO.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "primary" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Multi-AZ (high availability within a region) with cross-region disaster recovery, or assume that automated backups or manual snapshots can be restored quickly enough to meet aggressive RPO/RTO targets, ignoring the time required for cross-region data transfer and restore operations.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Cross-Region read replicas use MySQL's native asynchronous replication, where the replica continuously applies changes from the primary with a replication lag typically measured in seconds to minutes, easily achieving an RPO under 1 hour. When promoted, the replica becomes a writable standalone instance, and the promotion process usually completes within minutes, meeting the 2-hour RTO. However, if the primary fails, any transactions not yet replicated are lost, so the actual RPO depends on the replication lag at the time of failure.
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 media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
Visual reference
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.
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Reliability and Business Continuity — study guide chapter
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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: Create a cross-Region read replica in us-west-2 and promote it during a disaster — Option D is correct because a cross-Region read replica in us-west-2 can be promoted to a standalone primary database in under 2 hours, and the replication lag is typically less than 1 hour, meeting both RPO and RTO requirements. This solution provides continuous asynchronous replication from the primary region, ensuring minimal data loss and fast failover without needing to restore from backups.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "primary". Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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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.
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