Which solution meets this requirement with the MOST operational efficiency?
Take a manual snapshot in the production account. Share the snapshot with the test account. Restore the database from the snapshot.
Take a manual snapshot in the production account. Export the snapshot to Amazon S3. Copy the snapshot to an S3 bucket in the test account. Restore the database from the snapshot.
Share the Aurora DB cluster with the test account. Create a snapshot of the production database in the test account. Restore the database from the snapshot.
Share the Aurora DB cluster with the test account. Create a clone of the production database in the test account.
Explanations:
Sharing a snapshot and restoring it requires manual steps. Taking manual snapshots multiple times a day introduces operational overhead and lacks automation.
Exporting a snapshot to Amazon S3 and copying it to the test account introduces unnecessary complexity, increasing operational overhead and not meeting the frequency requirement efficiently.
Sharing the DB cluster and creating a snapshot in the test account would still require manual intervention to restore it and does not address the frequent copy requirements.
Sharing the Aurora DB cluster and creating a clone allows the test account to have a near real-time copy of the production data, meeting the requirement of frequent updates with minimal operational overhead.
I sort that the answer is:
Share the Aurora DB cluster with the test account. Create a clone of the production database in the test account.