DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A company uses Amazon DynamoDB as the primary data store for a gaming application. The application experiences sudden spikes in traffic. The data engineer notices that write requests are throttled during peak times. The partition keys are well-distributed. What should the data engineer do to reduce throttling?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse throttling due to hot partitions (uneven key distribution) with throttling due to insufficient overall capacity, leading them to incorrectly choose option C even when the question explicitly states partition keys are well-distributed.
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
✓
Configure DynamoDB auto scaling to adjust write capacity automatically.
DynamoDB auto scaling allows the table to automatically adjust its provisioned write capacity based on actual traffic patterns, preventing throttling during sudden spikes without manual intervention. Since the partition keys are already well-distributed, throttling is likely due to insufficient write capacity units, which auto scaling can dynamically increase.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use DynamoDB global tables to distribute writes across regions.
Why it's wrong here
Global tables replicate writes to other Regions but each Region still enforces its own per-partition throughput limits, so throttling on the overloaded table persists. They are tempting because they genuinely serve multi-Region active-active access and disaster recovery, not absorbing sudden write spikes.
- ✓
Configure DynamoDB auto scaling to adjust write capacity automatically.
Why this is correct
Auto scaling adjusts provisioned write capacity in response to consumed capacity, directly addressing the sudden traffic spikes causing throttling. Since partition keys are already well-distributed, the bottleneck is provisioned throughput rather than hot partitions, so scaling write capacity automatically absorbs peak demand without manual intervention.
- ✗
Increase the number of partition keys to improve write distribution.
Why it's wrong here
Partition keys are already well distributed, so adding more of them cannot relieve throttling; the table's provisioned write capacity is the constraint. It is tempting because hot-partition skew is a common throttling cause, and redesigning keys is correct when a single partition absorbs disproportionate traffic.
- ✗
Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) to cache write operations.
Why it's wrong here
DAX caches read operations only; it passes writes through to DynamoDB, so throttled write requests remain throttled. It is tempting because DAX dramatically reduces read latency and read capacity consumption, making it the right choice for read-heavy, eventually consistent workloads rather than write spikes.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on DEA-C01
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company uses Amazon DynamoDB as the primary data store for a gaming application. The application stores user profiles and game state. During peak hours, the application experiences throttling on writes to the UserProfiles table. The table's read capacity is underutilized. Which solution should resolve the write throttling?
easy- ✓ A.Increase the provisioned write capacity units for the table.
- B.Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) on the table.
- C.Add a global secondary index (GSI) to the table.
- D.Configure auto scaling for read capacity units.
Why A: Write throttling occurs when the number of write requests exceeds the provisioned write capacity units (WCUs) for the DynamoDB table. Since the read capacity is underutilized, the correct solution is to increase the provisioned WCUs to accommodate the peak write traffic. This directly addresses the capacity deficit without affecting read operations.
JA
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.