AWS Certified Database - Specialty (Aurora) Flashcards by Anna D

Amazon Aurora supports __ and __

MySQL and PostgreSQL

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How is PostgreSQL on Aurora better than standard PostgreSQL databases?

3x faster

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How is MySQL on Aurora better than standard MySQL databases?

5x faster

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What is the maximum number of read replicas for Aurora?

15 replicas (can be Multi AZ and autoscaling)

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Aurora Global DB

Supports Multi AZ read replication (local reads with under 1 second latency)

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Can Aurora be hosted on EC2?

No, it is only available via the RDS platform.

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Aurora keywords

high performance, Multi AZ, self-healing, auto expanding, shared storage volume, replicas

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Aurora keywords

high performance, Multi AZ, self-healing, auto expanding, shared storage volume, replicas,

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How do backups affect performance?

Data is conitnuously backed up to S3 in real time, using storage nodes (compute node performance is unaffected)

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How do backups affect performance?

Data is continuously backed up to S3 in real time, using storage nodes (compute node performance is unaffected)

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Do the read replicas share the same endpoint?

All the read replicas have the same endpoint (read endpoint) and AWS handles the load balancing.

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What is the maximum number of custom endpoints?

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Replicas double up as failover targets. What does this mean?

Standby instances are not needed

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ZDP

zero downtime patching: preserves client connections through an engine patch on a best-effort basis

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ElastiCache or other external caching can be used on top of Aurora. True or False?

true

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Aurora Parallel Query

Data intensive queries can be split and run in parallel on multiple nodes. I can get data faster.

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Aurora Parallel Query is only available for __

MySQL

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Aurora Serverless is available for __ and __

MySQL and PostgreSQL

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Is Aurora a fully managed service?

Amazon Aurora being a fully managed service helps you save time by automating time consuming tasks such as provisioning, patching, backup, recovery, failure detection, and repair.

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How long does it take for Aurora Serverless to “wake up”?

about 30 seconds

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What can kind of workloads does Aurora Serverless support?

infrequent, intermittent or unpredictable workloads (e.g. DEV/TEST envs which are typically used only during business hours)

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What does Aurora Serverless cost in comparison to RDS?

40% less

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Tell me more about the availability of Aurora Serverless

Aurora Serverless operates in single-AZ with multi-AZ failover mode. The compute layer consists of a single instance. In case of an outage, Aurora Serverless will spin up a new instance in another availability zone. As the storage layer is replicated among multiple availability zones, data is not at risk. But it will take some time until the new instance can serve requests.

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How does the failover time of Aurora Serverless compare to standard Aurora?

failover time is longer

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How can I run SQL queries using an API instead of a database connection?

use the Data API of Aurora Serverless

Where are the database credentials for Aurora Serverless stored?

AWS Secrets Manager

What is better than high availability and how is it achieved?

continuous availability and it is achieved with multiple master instances (multiple writers)

What is the maximum number of instance in a multi-master cluster?

How many regions does Global Aurora use?

1 primary region to read and write and up to 5 secondary (read only regions) and up to 16 read replicas per secondary region

3 advantages of Aurora

reliable, durable, fault-tolerant

Storage auto repair

Notes 12

Survivable cache warming

Notes 12

Crash recovery

Notes 12

RDS vs Aurora cost

Aurora costs about 20% more than RDS but is more efficient

Which instance classes are available for Aurora?

Memory-optimized and burstable performance

How is Aurora Serverless priced?

Per second pricing for actual ACUs used and no charge when database instance is not running

ACU (Aurora Serverless)

Aurora Capacity Unit: database capacity is measured in ACU (about 2GB of memory with corresponding CPU and networking)

How can I use SSL for Aurora Serverless?

The same procedure as RDS/Aurora provisioned but also certificates from ACM (AWS Certificate Manager) can be used.

How can I enforce SSL for Aurora Serverless?

Notes 13

Changing the parameter group associated with a database instance requires a manual reboot. T/F?

True

Changing the parameter group associated with a database cluster requires a manual reboot. T/F?

False

parameter group precedence

Notes 14

What type of parameter groups does Aurora Serverless have?

only DB cluster parameter groups and no DB parameter groups

For Aurora Serverless, all parameter changes are applied immediately. T/F?

True (irrespective of the Apply Immediately setting)

Backtrack

in-place restore, no new instance is created

What is the difference between Backtrack and PITR?

With Backtrack we have in-place restore and no new instance is created.

Can I have AWS Aurora Global and Serverless?

Data API

talk SQL to Aurora Serverless

How does Aurora (provisioned) storage scale?

Storage scaling is built-in and automatic. 10GB increments up to 64TB.

How does compute scaling work (provisioned)?

- larger instance - more replicas (up to 15) - higher value for max_connections parameter in the instance level parameter group - replica auto scaling (min max replicas)

Advanced Auditing in Aurora is available only for ___

MySQL

How does Enhanced Monitoring compare to Cloudwatch metrics?

Enhanced monitoring offers higher granularity

How and why are Aurora and Kinesis integrated?

Notes 16 | monitor database activity in real time

How can I export database table data into S3?

Create IAM role with policy that allows Aurora to write to given S3 and attach the role to the Aurora cluster. Using a SELECT query the data can be exported.

Difference between Aurora and RDS in backups and backtracking.

only that automatic backups cannot be disabled (min 1 day retention)

The Backtrack feature is only supported for Aurora and MySQL.

rewind DB cluster to a specific point in time up to 72 hours ago

Backtrack is not supported with Aurora ___ clusters and __ __ must be disabled.

multi-master, cross-region replication

PITR is always to a new database instance. T/F?

True

How does Aurora failover in case of no replicas and single AZ?

spins up a new master

How does Aurora failover in case there are replicas and single AZ?

replica is promoted to master

How does Aurora Serverless failover in case of a single AZ?

it spins up a new master in different AZ

CCM

Cluster Cache Management