DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A company uses Amazon DynamoDB for a gaming application. They need to store player session data that expires after 24 hours. Which DynamoDB feature should they use to automatically delete expired items?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse TTL with DynamoDB Streams, thinking streams can automatically delete items, but streams only notify of changes and require separate logic to perform deletions.
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
✓
Time to Live (TTL)
DynamoDB Time to Live (TTL) is the correct feature because it allows you to define a per-item timestamp attribute (e.g., `expireAt`) that DynamoDB automatically deletes once that timestamp is reached. This is ideal for expiring session data after 24 hours without requiring custom code or scheduled jobs to scan and delete items, reducing cost and operational overhead.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Time to Live (TTL)
Why this is correct
TTL automatically deletes expired items based on a timestamp attribute.
- ✗
DynamoDB auto scaling
Why it's wrong here
Auto scaling adjusts read/write capacity, not data expiration.
- ✗
DynamoDB Streams
Why it's wrong here
Streams capture item-level changes but do not delete items.
- ✗
Point-in-time recovery
Why it's wrong here
PITR is for restoring tables, not automatic deletion.
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Variation 1. A company is using Amazon DynamoDB for a gaming application. They want to store player session data that expires after 24 hours. Which DynamoDB feature should be used?
easy- ✓ A.Time to Live (TTL)
- B.DynamoDB Streams
- C.Global Tables
- D.Point-in-Time Recovery
Why A: Amazon DynamoDB Time to Live (TTL) allows you to define a per-item timestamp attribute that automatically deletes items after a specified duration. For the gaming session data that must expire after 24 hours, you can set the TTL attribute to the current time plus 24 hours, and DynamoDB will asynchronously delete expired items without any additional cost or write 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.