How to Meet EC2 and RDS Backup Retention with Least Administrative Effort?
A CloudOps engineer needs to implement a backup strategy for Amazon EC2 resources and Amazon RDS resources. The backup strategy must meet the following retention requirements: • Daily backups: must be kept for 6 days • Weekly backups: must be kept for 4 weeks • Monthly backups: must be kept for 11 months • Yearly backups: must be kept for 7 years Which backup strategy will meet these requirements with the LEAST administrative effort?
Community Insight
The question tests selecting a managed, cross-service backup solution that supports long-term retention; the trap is assuming Data Lifecycle Manager or RDS automated backups can cover every requirement.
This question asks for a backup strategy that covers both Amazon EC2 and Amazon RDS across daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly retention periods with minimal administration. AWS Backup is the correct answer because a tagged backup plan can enforce all required schedules and retention rules centrally.
Many learners choose option D because Data Lifecycle Manager handles EC2 EBS snapshots, but DLM does not back up RDS and RDS automated backups cannot retain backups for 7 years.
Community Discussion (1 comments)
Comments & Corrections
No comments yet — spotted an error or have a note? Share it below.
Expert Analysis
Why the Answer Is Correct
Option B is correct because AWS Backup is a centralized, policy-based backup service that supports both Amazon EC2 and Amazon RDS. A backup plan can contain multiple backup rules, each with its own frequency and lifecycle retention setting, so daily backups can be kept 6 days, weekly backups 4 weeks, monthly backups 11 months, and yearly backups 7 years. Tag-based resource assignment lets the engineer apply the plan to the required EC2 and RDS resources without building custom automation. This meets every stated retention requirement with the least ongoing administrative effort.Why the Other Options Are Wrong
Option A uses Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager to create EBS snapshot policies, which protects EC2 volumes but does not provide RDS backups. Option C requires a custom Lambda function and EventBridge rule to script native EC2 and RDS backup operations, which creates significant development and maintenance effort. Option D combines DLM for EBS with RDS automated backups, but RDS automated backup retention is limited and cannot satisfy monthly retention of 11 months or yearly retention of 7 years. Therefore, A, C, and D cannot satisfy the full requirement set with the least administrative effort.Community Comment Notes
Bad_Mat endorsed option B, noting that AWS Backup creates backup plans with daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly frequency and matching retention periods. That aligns with the key selection criterion: a managed cross-service backup plan assigned by tags. No community comment supports the DLM-only or Lambda-based approaches for this scenario.Official Reference
Exam Strategy
When a scenario spans multiple AWS services and asks for the least administrative effort, prefer AWS Backup over service-specific native tools unless every named resource is supported. Also check retention limits carefully: RDS automated backups cannot meet multi-year monthly or yearly retention requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can't Data Lifecycle Manager alone handle both EC2 and RDS backups?
Data Lifecycle Manager creates EBS snapshots for EC2 volumes, not RDS database backups. RDS automated backups also cannot enforce 11-month or 7-year retention.
Why use multiple rules in one AWS Backup plan instead of separate plans?
Each rule defines its own frequency and lifecycle, so daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly retention can be enforced independently within a single tagged backup plan.
Related Analysis
Practice All SOA-C03 Questions
Access 100 questions with complete answers and detailed explanations.
View Full SOA-C03 Practice Test →