AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – AssociateReliability and Business ContinuityMedium
A healthcare company needs to back up its critical Amazon RDS PostgreSQL database. The backup strategy must ensure point-in-time recovery to any second within the last 35 days, and daily backups must be retained for 7 years to meet regulatory requirements. The SysOps Administrator wants to implement this solution with minimal operational overhead. Which AWS services and configurations should be used?
- AEnable automated backups on RDS with a 35-day retention period and use AWS Backup to create daily snapshots with a 7-year retention period.
- BUse AWS DataSync to transfer daily database dumps to Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive for 7 years.
- CEnable automated backups on RDS with a 7-year retention period and configure a custom script to take daily snapshots.
- DManually create daily RDS snapshots and store them in an S3 bucket with a 7-year lifecycle policy.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Enable automated backups on RDS with a 35-day retention period and use AWS Backup to create daily snapshots with a 7-year retention period.
RDS automated backups provide point-in-time recovery (PITR) within the specified retention period (up to 35 days). For longer-term, immutable backups, AWS Backup can take daily snapshots of the RDS instance and manage their retention for 7 years, offering centralized management and compliance features.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. AWS DataSync is for transferring large data sets, not for managing RDS backups. Database dumps do not offer the same PITR capabilities as native RDS backups.
- C. RDS automated backups have a maximum retention of 35 days for PITR; extending to 7 years directly is not possible. Custom scripts increase operational overhead.
- D. Manually creating snapshots is not minimal operational overhead and is prone to human error. S3 is for object storage, not directly for RDS snapshots.
RDS PITR & Long-Term Backup
Achieving point-in-time recovery (PITR) for a short window and long-term regulatory backup for RDS databases typically involves combining RDS automated backups with AWS Backup.
- RDS automated backups enable PITR for up to 35 days.
- AWS Backup centralizes backup management for many AWS services.
- AWS Backup can create snapshots and enforce long-term retention policies.
- Ensures compliance with minimal operational overhead.
Memory trick: Automated for now, AWS Backup for later.