AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate (legacy) — Question 517

A company runs an Amazon RDS MySQL DB instance. Corporate policy requires that a daily backup of the database must be copied to a separate security account.
What is the MOST cost-effective way to meet this requirement?

Answer options

• A. Copy an automated RDS snapshot to the security account using the copy-db-snapshot command with the AWS CLI.
• B. Create an RDS MySQL Read Replica for the critical database in the security account, then enable automatic backups for the Read Replica.
• C. Create an RDS snapshot with the AWS CLI create-db-snapshot command, share it with the security account, then create a copy of the shared snapshot in the security account.
• D. Use AWS DMS to replicate data from the critical database to another RDS MySQL instance in the security account, then use an automated backup for the RDS instance.

Correct answer: C

Explanation

To transfer RDS backups to another AWS account, you must first create a manual snapshot using the create-db-snapshot CLI command, share it with the destination account, and then copy it locally within that security account. This method is the most cost-effective because it only incurs standard snapshot storage fees, whereas deploying a Read Replica (Option B) or running an AWS DMS replication instance alongside a second RDS instance (Option D) generates ongoing compute charges. Additionally, automated snapshots cannot be directly shared across accounts, making Option A invalid.