AWS Certified Database – Specialty — Question 60

A company has migrated a single MySQL database to Amazon Aurora. The production data is hosted in a DB cluster in VPC_PROD, and 12 testing environments are hosted in VPC_TEST using the same AWS account. Testing results in minimal changes to the test data. The Development team wants each environment refreshed nightly so each test database contains fresh production data every day.
Which migration approach will be the fastest and most cost-effective to implement?

Answer options

• A. Run the master in Amazon Aurora MySQL. Create 12 clones in VPC_TEST, and script the clones to be deleted and re-created nightly.
• B. Run the master in Amazon Aurora MySQL. Take a nightly snapshot, and restore it into 12 databases in VPC_TEST using Aurora Serverless.
• C. Run the master in Amazon Aurora MySQL. Create 12 Aurora Replicas in VPC_TEST, and script the replicas to be deleted and re-created nightly.
• D. Run the master in Amazon Aurora MySQL using Aurora Serverless. Create 12 clones in VPC_TEST, and script the clones to be deleted and re-created nightly.

Correct answer: A

Explanation

Option A is the best choice because creating clones allows for quick and efficient refreshes of the test environments without incurring additional costs for backup storage or restore time. Options B and D involve snapshots and serverless configurations, which may introduce latency and additional costs, while Option C's use of Aurora Replicas does not provide the same level of flexibility and cost-effectiveness as cloning.