Temporary disaster recovery to AWS with 5-minute RPO using Elastic Disaster Recovery

SAP-C02 By islever Editorial Last updated

Design a solution to ensure business continuity.

Short answer

B Use AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery for continuous replication, failover, and failback with a 5-minute RPO and minimal operational overhead.

Question

A company has developed an application that is running Windows Server on VMware vSphere VMs that the company hosts on premises. The application data is stored in a proprietary format that must be read through the application. The company manually provisioned the servers and the application. As part of its disaster recovery plan, the company wants the ability to host its application on AWS temporarily if the company's on-premises environment becomes unavailable. The company wants the application to return to on-premises hosting after a disaster recovery event is complete. The RPO is 5 minutes. Which solution meets these requirements with the LEAST amount of operational overhead?
  1. Configure AWS DataSync. Replicate the data to Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) volumes. When the on-premises environment is unavailable, use AWS CloudFormation templates to provision Amazon EC2 instances and attach the EBS volumes.
  2. Configure AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery. Replicate the data to replication Amazon EC2 instances that are attached to Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) volumes. When the on-premises environment is unavailable, use Elastic Disaster Recovery to launch EC2 instances that use the replicated volumes. Correct Answer
  3. Provision an AWS Storage Gateway file gateway. Replicate the data to an Amazon S3 bucket. When the on-premises environment is unavailable, use AWS Backup to restore the data to Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) volumes and launch Amazon EC2 instances from these EBS volumes.
  4. Provision an Amazon FSx for Windows File Server file system on AWS. Replicate the data to the file system. When the on-premises environment is unavailable, use AWS CloudFormation templates to provision Amazon EC2 instances and use AWS::CloudFormation::Init commands to mount the Amazon FSx file shares.

Key Takeaways

AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (DRS) delivers continuous replication with minute-level RPO and managed failover/failback, meeting the temporary-DR-and-return requirement with the least operational overhead.

A Windows app on VMware needs temporary AWS hosting during an on-prem outage with RPO 5 minutes and minimal overhead, then failback. AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery provides continuous block-level replication to staging EC2, one-click failover, and failback to on-prem with low operational effort.

Common mistake: Using DataSync (Option A) or Storage Gateway (Option C) provides data movement but not the continuous replication, automated failover, and failback that DRS offers for a true DR posture.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

Option B configures AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery, which performs continuous block-level replication to staging EC2 instances with an RPO of seconds to minutes (meeting the 5-minute RPO). DRS provides managed failover to launch EC2 from replicated volumes and failback to on-prem, with low operational overhead — ideal for temporary DR that returns home.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Option A uses DataSync to replicate to EBS and relies on manual CloudFormation-launched EC2, lacking continuous replication and automated failback. Option C uses a file gateway and AWS Backup, unsuitable for a proprietary-format app that must run on EC2. Option D uses FSx for Windows, which stores data in FSx rather than enabling EC2-based failover of the application.

Community Comment Notes

The community vote is strongly B (94). TonytheTiger links the DRS failback overview documentation. Dgix notes DataSync lacks comprehensive DR capability, reinforcing B.

Official Reference

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/drs/latest/userguide/what-is-drs.html

This link opens the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Community Votes

B
100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer B. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 10 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 10

  1. HunkyBunky 👍 4 Answered B
    Correct answer is B - because only this option will provide LEAST amount of operational overhead. A - is out, because DataSync can't replicate data to EBS volumes C - is out, because AWS Backup can't restore not managed data from S3 to EBS D - is out, because it is not provide a way HOW we will replicate data from on-premise to FSx. Also, it is require additional amount of operational overhead
  2. Dgix 👍 3 Answered B
    B is the correct answer. AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery aligns with low operational overhead and 5-minute RPO. It takes care of ongoing replication A: Incorrect, DataSync lacks comprehensive DR capabilities and requires manual provisioning. C: Incorrect, introduces complexity and doesn't support a 5-minute RPO for DR. D: Incorrect, FSx lacks automated DR solutions for VMware vSphere VMs, increasing overhead.
  3. TonytheTiger 👍 3 Answered B
    Option B: AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery performance Failover and Failback https://docs.aws.amazon.com/drs/latest/userguide/failback-overview.html
  4. AzureDP900 👍 2
    Option B is right Elastic Disaster Recovery: This service allows you to create a replication instance in AWS, which can be used as a target for your application data. When your on-premises environment is unavailable, Elastic Disaster Recovery can automatically launch EC2 instances using the replicated volumes. Zero-configuration restore: With Elastic Disaster Recovery, there's no need to configure any additional services or scripts to restore the application. The service takes care of launching the correct EC2 instances with the necessary EBS volumes attached. RPO of 5 minutes: By replicating your data regularly (e.g., every 5 minutes), you can ensure that your RPO is met, and in case of a disaster, the replicated data will be available on AWS.
  5. TomTom 👍 1 Answered B
    The best solution for the company's disaster recovery needs with minimal operational overhead is B. Configure AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery. This option enables continuous data replication to Amazon EC2 instances attached to Amazon EBS volumes, ensuring the RPO of 5 minutes is met. When the on-premises environment fails, Elastic Disaster Recovery can automatically launch the EC2 instances using the replicated volumes, streamlining the recovery process and reducing manual intervention compared to other options.
Show 5 more comments
  1. Russs99 👍 1 Answered D
    I selected option D, option B is requires enabling and configuring AWS disaster recovery service, monitoring replication status. In the even of a disaster. The replication of EC2 instances needs to be managed and maintained even where not in used.
  2. kejam 👍 1 Answered B
    https://aws.amazon.com/disaster-recovery/
  3. alexis123456 👍 2
    Correct Answer is D
  4. TheCloudGuruu 👍 2 Answered B
    Answer is B
  5. career360guru 👍 1 Answered B
    Option B

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