DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
A company uses a DynamoDB table with on-demand capacity for a gaming application. During a new game launch, the table experienced throttling errors. The engineer checks CloudWatch metrics and sees that the 'ConsumedWriteCapacityUnits' exceeded the 'ProvisionedWriteCapacityUnits' (on-demand uses the table's previous peak). The application is writing at 50,000 WCU but the table's peak was 30,000 WCU. What should the engineer do to resolve throttling?
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
✓
Contact AWS Support to pre-warm the table for higher throughput.
DynamoDB on-demand capacity automatically scales based on traffic but has a maximum throughput limit determined by the table's previous peak usage. When a new peak exceeds this limit, throttling occurs until the table adapts. Contacting AWS Support to pre-warm the table raises the initial throughput limit, allowing higher bursts immediately. Option B is incorrect because increasing partition count does not directly increase the overall throughput limit; it affects distribution of throughput. Option A is incorrect because DAX is a caching layer that improves read performance, not write throughput. Option D is incorrect because switching to provisioned capacity would require setting WCU to 50,000, but this changes the billing model and may still require a limit increase; pre-warming is the direct solution for on-demand throttling.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Add a DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) cluster in front of the table.
Why it's wrong here
DAX caches reads, not writes; it does not help with write throttling.
- ✗
Increase the number of partitions by splitting the partition key.
Why it's wrong here
Partition count is determined by throughput and storage; splitting does not immediately raise throughput limit.
- ✓
Contact AWS Support to pre-warm the table for higher throughput.
Why this is correct
Pre-warming increases the table's initial throughput limit to handle spikes.
- ✗
Switch the table to provisioned capacity and set WCU to 50,000.
Why it's wrong here
Provisioned capacity requires capacity planning and may not auto-scale; on-demand is suitable for variable traffic.
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