Answer: Create a read replica of the database. Direct the queries to the read replica.

## Explanation **Correct Answer: A** - Create a read replica of the database. Direct the queries to the read replica. ### Why Option A is Correct: 1. **Read Replicas for Offloading Read Queries**: Amazon RDS read replicas are specifically designed to handle read-heavy workloads and offload read traffic from the primary database instance. 2. **Maintain Performance of Daily Workloads**: By directing report queries to the read replica, the primary database instance continues to handle the daily transactional workload without performance degradation. 3. **Cost-Effective Scaling**: Read replicas provide a cost-effective way to scale read capacity without resizing the primary instance. 4. **Monthly Report Requirements**: Since the reporting workload occurs only once a month, a read replica provides the perfect solution for handling periodic reporting needs. ### Why Other Options are Incorrect: **Option B**: Creating a backup and restoring to another DB instance is inefficient and not scalable. It would create data latency issues (the restored database would be a point-in-time copy) and would require manual intervention each month. **Option C**: Exporting data to S3 and using Athena is overcomplicated for this use case. While Athena is great for querying data in S3, it requires data transformation and doesn't provide real-time access to the database. This approach would introduce significant complexity and latency. **Option D**: Resizing the DB instance to accommodate the additional workload would be wasteful and expensive. The company sized the instance correctly for average daily workloads, and resizing just for a monthly report would mean paying for unused capacity 29 days out of 30. ### Key AWS Concepts: - **Amazon RDS Read Replicas**: Provide asynchronous replication from the primary database to one or more read-only copies. - **Read/Write Separation**: Allows you to direct read queries to replicas while maintaining write operations on the primary instance. - **Performance Isolation**: Prevents reporting queries from impacting transactional workloads. - **Cost Optimization**: More cost-effective than permanently over-provisioning the primary instance. This solution aligns with AWS best practices for handling periodic reporting workloads while maintaining optimal performance for daily operations.

Author: LeetQuiz Editorial Team