DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A company has a MySQL database that stores user profile data. The database is 1 TB and growing. The team wants to archive inactive user profiles that haven't been accessed in over 1 year. The archived data must be queryable but at a slower performance tier. Which approach is most cost-effective?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse 'archiving' with 'expiring' or 'replicating,' and assume that a database service (like Aurora Serverless or DynamoDB) is required for queryability, overlooking S3's ability to serve as a queryable data lake via Athena or S3 Select.
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
✓
Export inactive profiles to Amazon S3 and use S3 Intelligent-Tiering for storage
The most cost-effective because Amazon S3 with Intelligent-Tiering automatically moves data between access tiers (frequent, infrequent, and archive) based on usage, minimizing storage costs for rarely accessed data. Inactive profiles exported to S3 remain queryable via S3 Select or Athena, meeting the requirement for slower query performance at a fraction of the cost of maintaining a relational database instance.
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 an RDS read replica and delete inactive records from the primary
Why it's wrong here
The read replica would still store the data, incurring costs.
- ✗
Move inactive profiles to Amazon Aurora Serverless and stop the cluster when not in use
Why it's wrong here
Aurora Serverless is still a relational database and may incur costs even when paused.
- ✓
Export inactive profiles to Amazon S3 and use S3 Intelligent-Tiering for storage
Why this is correct
S3 Intelligent-Tiering optimizes costs, and the data can be queried using Athena.
- ✗
Use Amazon DynamoDB with TTL to expire inactive profiles
Why it's wrong here
TTL deletes data automatically, not for archiving.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
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This DBS-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 DBS-C01 exam.