SAA-C03 Question 79
Single answerA company runs a critical web application on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group spanning multiple Availability Zones. The data for the application is stored in an Amazon RDS database. The company wants to ensure minimal downtime and data loss in case of a disaster that impacts the primary AWS Region. What is the most suitable solution to achieve this?
- A
Set up Amazon RDS Read Replicas in the same Region and promote one to primary in case of failure.
- B
Enable Amazon RDS Multi-AZ deployment and configure automatic failover.
- C
Create a cross-Region read replica for the RDS database and promote it to primary in the event of a disaster.
- D
Take regular automated snapshots of the RDS database and restore them in another Region when needed.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The best solution to ensure minimal downtime and data loss in case of a Region-wide disaster is to create a cross-Region read replica for the RDS database. This allows the company to quickly promote the replica to a primary database in the event of a disaster, ensuring business continuity. Other options, such as Multi-AZ deployments or same-Region read replicas, do not address cross-Region requirements, while restoring from snapshots can lead to significant downtime and data loss.
- A. Incorrect.
Amazon RDS Read Replicas in the same Region do not provide a disaster recovery solution for cross-Region scenarios. They are primarily designed for read scalability and not for high availability or disaster recovery.
- B. Incorrect.
Amazon RDS Multi-AZ deployment provides high availability within the same Region but does not protect against a Region-wide disaster. This option does not meet the cross-Region disaster recovery requirement.
- C. Correct.
Creating a cross-Region read replica allows for disaster recovery in a different AWS Region. In the event of a disaster, the read replica can be promoted to a primary database, ensuring minimal data loss and downtime.
- D. Incorrect.
Restoring from automated snapshots is a valid backup strategy but involves significant downtime and potential data loss depending on the frequency of snapshots. This is not the most suitable solution for minimal downtime and data loss.