CV0-004 Operations and Support Practice Question
A cloud operations team is designing a backup strategy for a set of Amazon RDS for MySQL databases that support a production application. The team needs to be able to restore the database to any point in time within the last 35 days and must also retain a copy of the database for seven years for regulatory compliance. The team wants to minimize operational overhead. Which TWO actions should the team take? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is treating high-availability features such as Multi-AZ or read replicas as if they were backup and retention mechanisms.
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
✓
Export automated backups to Amazon S3 and apply a lifecycle policy for seven-year retention.
Automated backups with a 35-day retention period deliver point-in-time recovery within the required window and are fully managed. Exporting backups to Amazon S3 with a seven-year lifecycle policy provides durable, low-overhead long-term retention for regulatory compliance. Together they meet both the short-term recovery and long-term retention requirements.
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 DB snapshot and retain it for seven years.
Why it's wrong here
Manual snapshots are retained until explicitly deleted, so a single snapshot would not provide ongoing coverage; it captures only one point in time. Regulatory retention for seven years typically requires periodic snapshots or exports, not a single manual snapshot. This action alone does not meet the long-term retention requirement in a reliable way.
- ✗
Enable Multi-AZ deployment for the RDS instance.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ provides high availability by maintaining a synchronous standby in another Availability Zone, enabling failover during an outage. It is not a backup mechanism and does not provide point-in-time recovery or long-term retention. It addresses availability, not the recovery and compliance requirements described in the scenario.
- ✗
Configure a read replica in a second region and promote it for recovery.
Why it's wrong here
A cross-region read replica can be promoted for disaster recovery, but it is a replication target, not a backup. It does not provide point-in-time recovery to a specific second within 35 days, nor does it provide seven-year retention. It addresses regional resilience rather than the backup and compliance needs in the scenario.
- ✓
Export automated backups to Amazon S3 and apply a lifecycle policy for seven-year retention.
Why this is correct
RDS supports exporting snapshots to Amazon S3, and S3 lifecycle policies can transition and retain objects for seven years. This provides durable, low-overhead long-term retention for compliance. Combined with automated backups for point-in-time recovery, it satisfies both the short-term and long-term requirements without managing servers.
- ✓
Enable automated backups with a backup retention period of 35 days.
Why this is correct
Automated backups with a 35-day retention period provide point-in-time recovery to any second within that window. This directly satisfies the requirement to restore to any point in time within the last 35 days. It is a managed feature of RDS, so operational overhead is minimal, and it is the correct mechanism for the short-term recovery requirement.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| 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 |
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
This CV0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 CV0-004 exam.