DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A company runs a multi-AZ Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL instance. They need to run a one-time analytical query that will take several hours and consume significant I/O. The query should not impact the primary workload. What should the data engineer do?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse the Multi-AZ standby instance with a read replica, assuming the standby can be used for queries, but in Amazon RDS, the standby is only for high availability and is not accessible for read operations.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create a read replica of the RDS instance and run the query on the replica.
Creating a read replica of the RDS for PostgreSQL instance allows the analytical query to run on a separate database engine without affecting the primary workload. Read replicas in Amazon RDS use asynchronous replication from the source instance, so the replica can handle heavy I/O and long-running queries independently. This ensures the primary instance remains available for the production workload without performance degradation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create a read replica of the RDS instance and run the query on the replica.
Why this is correct
Read replica offloads read traffic from the primary.
- ✗
Run the query directly on the primary instance during off-peak hours.
Why it's wrong here
The query will still impact primary performance.
- ✗
Increase the instance size to handle the load.
Why it's wrong here
Does not isolate the query impact.
- ✗
Enable Multi-AZ and run the query on the standby instance.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ standby is not accessible for reads.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DEA-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the DEA-C01 exam.