Which feature should the solutions architect include in the design to meet this requirement?
Read replicas
Manual snapshots
Automated backups
Multi-AZ deployments
Explanations:
Read replicas are used primarily for scaling read operations and offloading traffic from the primary database, but they do not provide a point-in-time recovery feature to restore the database to a specific state.
Manual snapshots can be created at any time but do not allow for point-in-time recovery to a specific moment within the past. They are more suitable for long-term backups rather than frequent recovery scenarios.
Automated backups enable point-in-time recovery, allowing restoration of the database to any state within the retention period (up to 35 days). This includes the ability to restore to a specific time, such as 5 minutes before the data loss occurred.
Multi-AZ deployments provide high availability and failover capabilities but do not specifically address the need for point-in-time recovery. They ensure that a standby instance is available in case of failure, but they do not retain point-in-time snapshots.