This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data store management. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company has an Amazon DynamoDB table with on-demand capacity mode. The table stores session data for a web application. Recently, the application experienced throttling errors during a traffic spike. The team wants to prevent future throttling while optimizing costs. What should they do?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Implement a DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) cluster
A DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) cluster provides an in-memory cache that absorbs read-heavy traffic spikes, reducing the number of read requests that reach the underlying DynamoDB table. Since the throttling errors occurred during a traffic spike and the table uses on-demand capacity, which already scales automatically for writes and reads, the bottleneck is likely read-heavy traffic overwhelming the table's throughput. DAX offloads reads from the table, preventing throttling without requiring any changes to capacity mode, and it is cost-effective because it reduces read capacity unit consumption.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
Implement a DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) cluster
Why this is correct
DAX provides in-memory caching to reduce read throttling.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Enable DynamoDB auto scaling on the table
Why it's wrong here
Auto scaling is not applicable to on-demand mode.
✗
Switch to provisioned capacity with auto scaling
Why it's wrong here
On-demand cannot be switched to provisioned without redesign; auto scaling would need to be set up.
✗
Increase the read and write capacity of the table
Why it's wrong here
On-demand does not have manual capacity settings.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume throttling in on-demand mode must be fixed by switching to provisioned capacity or enabling auto scaling, but they overlook that on-demand already scales automatically and the real solution is to reduce read load via caching with DAX.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
DAX acts as a write-through cache that uses an in-memory engine to serve read requests at microsecond latency, significantly reducing the load on the DynamoDB table's read capacity. Under the hood, DAX maintains a cache of frequently accessed items and uses a distributed cluster to handle high concurrency, with automatic cache invalidation on writes to ensure consistency. In a real-world scenario, a web application with session data often experiences read-heavy traffic spikes (e.g., during a flash sale), where DAX can absorb thousands of reads per second without hitting the table's throughput limits.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Data Store Management — This question tests Data Store Management — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Implement a DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) cluster — A DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) cluster provides an in-memory cache that absorbs read-heavy traffic spikes, reducing the number of read requests that reach the underlying DynamoDB table. Since the throttling errors occurred during a traffic spike and the table uses on-demand capacity, which already scales automatically for writes and reads, the bottleneck is likely read-heavy traffic overwhelming the table's throughput. DAX offloads reads from the table, preventing throttling without requiring any changes to capacity mode, and it is cost-effective because it reduces read capacity unit consumption.
What should I do if I get this DEA-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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