Which solution will meet these requirements in the MOST operationally efficient way?
Create a manual copy of the snapshot.
Export the contents of the snapshot to an Amazon S3 bucket.
Change the retention period of the snapshot to 45 days.
Create a native SQL Server backup. Save the backup to an Amazon S3 bucket.
Explanations:
Creating a manual copy of the snapshot allows the database administrator to retain it indefinitely, as manual snapshots are not subject to automated deletion policies. This is the most operationally efficient solution to retain a snapshot for a longer period.
Exporting the contents to Amazon S3 requires additional setup, ongoing management, and does not directly retain the snapshot itself, which adds unnecessary complexity for the goal.
The maximum retention period for automated snapshots is limited by AWS and cannot be extended to arbitrary values like 45 days. Therefore, this option does not meet the requirement of retaining the snapshot for a longer period.
Creating a native SQL Server backup and saving it to Amazon S3 involves manual intervention and is operationally less efficient than creating a manual snapshot within Amazon RDS. It also does not retain the snapshot itself.
I categorize that the answer is:
Create a manual copy of the snapshot.