Which solution will meet these requirements in the MOST operationally efficient way?
Take a snapshot of the DB instance in us-west-2. Create a new DB instance in ap-southeast-2 from the snapshot. Reconfigure the ap-southeast-1 front-end dashboard to access the new DB instance.
Create an RDS read replica in ap-southeast-1 from the primary DB instance in us-west-2. Reconfigure the ap-southeast-1 front-end dashboard to access the read replica.
Create a new DB instance in ap-southeast-1. Use AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) and change data capture (CDC) to update the new DB instance in ap-southeast-1. Reconfigure the ap-southeast-1 front-end dashboard to access the new DB instance.
Create an RDS read replica in us-west-2, where the primary DB instance resides. Create a read replica in ap-southeast-1 from the read replica in us-west-2. Reconfigure the ap-southeast-1 front-end dashboard to access the read replica in ap-southeast-1.
Explanations:
Taking a snapshot and creating a new DB instance in ap-southeast-2 is not a practical solution because it does not provide real-time data synchronization between the regions, and reconfiguring the front end would not solve the latency issue.
Creating an RDS read replica in ap-southeast-1 allows for data replication closer to the Singapore branch, reducing latency for users in that region. This is the most operationally efficient solution, as read replicas are automatically synchronized and require minimal management.
Using AWS DMS with CDC introduces complexity and overhead for real-time data synchronization. This method is not as operationally efficient as using a read replica, as it requires continuous monitoring and management of the DMS process.
Creating a read replica in us-west-2 and then another read replica in ap-southeast-1 is unnecessarily complex. The second read replica does not provide any additional benefit over directly creating the read replica in ap-southeast-1.
I arrange that the answer is:
Create an RDS read replica in ap-southeast-1 from the primary DB instance in us-west-2. Reconfigure the ap-southeast-1 front-end dashboard to access the read replica.