Use an Aurora global database with promotion for data and Route 53 failover routing for the application tier
A company needs a strategy for failover and disaster recovery of its data and application. The application uses a MySQL database and Amazon EC2 instances. The company requires a maximum RPO of 2 hours and a maximum RTO of 10 minutes for its data and application at all times. Which combination of deployment strategies will meet these requirements? (Choose two.)
Community Votes
100% of anonymous learners picked answer BD. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.
Community Insight
Each tier needs its own recovery mechanism because a global database alone cannot restore the compute that serves the application. Aurora global database covers the data requirement with Region promotion (B), and Route 53 failover routing with health checks and Auto Scaling covers the application requirement (D). Options A and C rely on Single-AZ clusters or a Network Load Balancer across Regions, neither of which provides a usable multi-Region recovery path. Option E's Global Accelerator would also work but adds a service whose fast failover is unnecessary when Route 53 failover routing already satisfies the stated objectives.
The objectives are a maximum RPO of 2 hours and a maximum RTO of 10 minutes, so the data tier and the application tier must each have a strategy that recovers within ten minutes. For data, an Amazon Aurora global database spans two Regions and a failed Region's secondary cluster can be promoted to primary within roughly a minute, which is far inside the ten-minute budget. For the application, deploying it in two Regions behind Application Load Balancers with Route 53 failover routing, health checks, and Auto Scaling groups shifts traffic to the surviving Region without waiting on DNS TTLs in practice.
Creating an Aurora Single-AZ cluster in multiple Regions (A) — a Single-AZ cluster cannot survive the loss of its Availability Zone, and automatic recovery in a Single-AZ cluster is a restart rather than a cross-Region promotion, so it does not deliver a 10-minute RTO for a Region-level event. Using a Network Load Balancer to balance database traffic across Regions (C) — an NLB operates within a Region and cannot front an Aurora cluster in another Region, so this does not provide cross-Region recovery at all. Using AWS Global Accelerator (E) — VerRi acknowledged it could provide faster failover but is not necessary here, since Route 53 failover routing already meets the requirement without adding another service.
Community Discussion (4 comments)
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Expert Analysis
Why the Answer Is Correct
The requirement pairs a maximum RPO of 2 hours with a maximum RTO of 10 minutes for both the data and the application, and those are two separate tiers needing two separate mechanisms. For the data tier, an Amazon Aurora global database in two Regions keeps a secondary cluster synchronized with the primary using storage-based replication with typically sub-second latency, and on failure the secondary Region can be promoted to primary in well under a minute, which is comfortably inside the ten-minute objective; the application then updates to use the cluster endpoint in the secondary Region (B). For the application tier, deploying it in two Regions behind Application Load Balancers with Route 53 failover routing, health checks, and Auto Scaling groups per Region means the healthy Region continues serving and traffic is rerouted to it (D). Together these cover both tiers within the stated RTO without introducing unnecessary components. B and D are the correct combination.Why the Other Options Are Wrong
A creates an Amazon Aurora Single-AZ cluster in multiple Regions and relies on Aurora's automatic recovery capabilities. A Single-AZ cluster cannot survive the loss of its Availability Zone, and its automatic recovery is a restart of the cluster rather than a promotion in a different Region, so this does not achieve a 10-minute RTO for a Region-level failure. C creates an Aurora cluster in multiple Regions and uses a Network Load Balancer to balance database traffic between Regions. A Network Load Balancer operates within a single Region and cannot front a cluster in another, so this provides no cross-Region recovery capability for the database. E sets up the application in two Regions with AWS Global Accelerator pointing to Application Load Balancers in both Regions in a single endpoint group. As VerRi observed, Global Accelerator could deliver faster failover, but it is not necessary here because Route 53 failover routing already satisfies the requirement and adding Global Accelerator introduces an extra service without being required. B and D are correct.Community Comment Notes
Community voted B,D unanimously. jamesf identified the keywords as Amazon Aurora global database and Route 53, which are the two mechanisms in B and D. trungtd stated that only B and D meet the requirements. VerRi addressed option E, noting that Global Accelerator could provide faster failover but is not necessary in this case, which confirms the Route 53 approach in D is sufficient. No alternative received support.Official Reference
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