AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – AssociateReliability and Business ContinuityHard
A company is implementing a disaster recovery strategy for its critical application, which runs on EC2 instances across multiple Availability Zones in a single region. The application relies on an Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL database. In the event of a regional disaster, the company needs to restore the entire application stack, including the Aurora database, in a different AWS Region. The RTO target is 2 hours, and the RPO target is 15 minutes. Which disaster recovery approach should the SysOps Administrator choose?
- AConfigure Aurora Global Database and deploy EC2 instances using a Warm Standby approach in the target region.
- BUse S3 Cross-Region Replication for backups and launch EC2 instances from AMIs in the target region.
- CCreate an Aurora Read Replica in the target region and deploy EC2 instances using a Pilot Light approach.
- DImplement a Backup and Restore strategy, restoring Aurora from cross-region snapshots and launching EC2 instances from scratch.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Configure Aurora Global Database and deploy EC2 instances using a Warm Standby approach in the target region.
Aurora Global Database provides fast, low-RPO cross-region replication for Aurora, enabling recovery in minutes. Combining this with a Warm Standby for EC2 instances (scaled-down but running) in the target region allows for a rapid RTO (2 hours) and meets the RPO (15 minutes) for the entire application stack.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. S3 Cross-Region Replication is for S3 objects, not directly for Aurora databases or EC2 instances. Launching EC2 from AMIs alone doesn't ensure data consistency or meet the RPO for Aurora.
- C. An Aurora Read Replica in another region can help with RPO, but promoting it can take time, and a Pilot Light for EC2 instances means less infrastructure is running, potentially pushing the RTO beyond 2 hours due to scaling up.
- D. Backup and Restore has a much higher RTO (many hours, typically > 4 hours) than 2 hours, as it involves restoring from snapshots and provisioning all resources from scratch.
Aurora Global Database DR
Amazon Aurora Global Database enables fast, low-RPO disaster recovery across AWS Regions by replicating data with minimal latency, making it ideal for critical applications needing quick regional failover.
- Replicates Aurora data across up to five AWS Regions.
- Achieves RPO typically < 1 second and RTO < 1 minute.
- Uses dedicated infrastructure for replication, minimizing impact on primary.
- Complements Warm Standby or Multi-site strategies for compute layer.
Memory trick: Global DB for data, Warm Standby for compute, quick recovery guaranteed.