AWS Migration and Transfer Services — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A company needs to migrate 80 TB of on-premises data to Amazon S3. Their internet connection is only 100 Mbps and transferring online would take months. Which AWS service is the best solution?
- AWS DataSync
- AWS Snowball Edge (Correct answer)
- AWS Storage Gateway
- AWS Direct Connect
Correct answer: AWS Snowball Edge
AWS Snowball Edge is a physical data transport device that AWS ships to you. You load data locally (up to 80 TB per device), then ship it back to AWS, where the data is ingested into S3. It is ideal when the volume of data makes online transfer impractical. DataSync transfers data over the network, Storage Gateway is a hybrid storage integration, and Direct Connect is a dedicated network link.
Question 2: Which AWS service is specifically designed to migrate databases to AWS with minimal downtime, supporting both homogeneous migrations (e.g., Oracle to Oracle on RDS) and heterogeneous migrations (e.g., Oracle to PostgreSQL)?
- AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT)
- AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) (Correct answer)
- AWS DataSync
- AWS Application Migration Service (MGN)
Correct answer: AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) replicates data from source databases to target databases continuously, supporting ongoing replication so the source stays online during migration. For heterogeneous migrations where schema conversion is needed, DMS is used alongside the AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT). DataSync moves files, and MGN lifts and shifts entire servers.
Question 3: AWS Migration Hub provides which primary benefit during a migration project?
- It physically transfers data from on-premises data centers to AWS
- It provides a single location to track the progress of application migrations across multiple AWS and partner migration tools (Correct answer)
- It automatically converts on-premises virtual machines to Amazon EC2 instances
- It analyzes database schemas and converts them to AWS-compatible formats
Correct answer: It provides a single location to track the progress of application migrations across multiple AWS and partner migration tools
AWS Migration Hub is a centralized dashboard that aggregates migration status from tools like Application Migration Service (MGN), DMS, and partner tools into a single view. It does not perform the actual migration—it tracks it.
Question 4: Which AWS service uses agent-based replication to lift and shift physical servers, VMware VMs, and Azure VMs to Amazon EC2 with minimal cutover downtime?
- AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
- AWS DataSync
- AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) (Correct answer)
- AWS Snowball Edge
Correct answer: AWS Application Migration Service (MGN)
AWS Application Migration Service (MGN, formerly CloudEndure Migration) installs a lightweight agent on source servers that continuously replicates data to AWS. At cutover time, it launches EC2 instances from the replicated data with minimal downtime. It is the primary AWS service for server lift-and-shift migrations.
Question 5: A company wants to move 50 TB of NFS file-share data from an on-premises data center to Amazon EFS over the network on a recurring schedule. Which AWS service is most appropriate?
- AWS Snowball Edge
- AWS Storage Gateway
- AWS DataSync (Correct answer)
- AWS Transfer Family
Correct answer: AWS DataSync
AWS DataSync is a managed data transfer service that automates moving large amounts of data over the network between on-premises storage (NFS, SMB, HDFS) and AWS storage services (S3, EFS, FSx). It handles scheduling, data integrity verification, and bandwidth throttling. Snowball is for offline bulk transfers, Storage Gateway integrates on-premises apps with cloud storage, and Transfer Family supports SFTP/FTP.
Question 6: The AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) organizes guidance into six perspectives. Which perspective focuses on aligning IT strategy with business goals and identifying stakeholder needs?
- Platform Perspective
- Business Perspective (Correct answer)
- Operations Perspective
- Governance Perspective
Correct answer: Business Perspective
The Business Perspective of the AWS CAF ensures that IT investments link to business outcomes. It focuses on business strategy, portfolio management, and stakeholder engagement. The Governance Perspective handles risk and compliance, Platform handles cloud infrastructure design, and Operations handles day-to-day cloud operations.
AWS Migration and Transfer Services
A company needs to migrate 80 TB of on-premises data to Amazon S3.
Their internet connection is only 100 Mbps and transferring online would take months.
Which AWS service is the best solution?