DBS-C01 Database Security Practice Question
A company has a requirement to automatically rotate the password for an Amazon RDS for MySQL DB instance every 90 days. The password is stored in AWS Secrets Manager. Which combination of steps will meet this requirement?
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
✓
Store the password in Secrets Manager and configure automatic rotation with a Lambda function that updates the RDS password every 90 days.
AWS Secrets Manager provides built-in support for automatic rotation of RDS database passwords using a custom or pre-built AWS Lambda rotation function. You can configure the rotation interval to 90 days to meet the requirement. Option A is incorrect because IAM database authentication does not rotate passwords; it uses IAM roles and credentials, not password rotation. Option B is incorrect because AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store does not have native rotation capabilities for RDS passwords; it requires a custom solution. Option D is incorrect while it describes a manual approach via Lambda and CloudWatch Events, it does not leverage Secrets Manager's automatic rotation feature, which is the recommended and simplest method.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable IAM database authentication for the RDS instance and rotate the IAM keys every 90 days.
Why it's wrong here
IAM database authentication does not use passwords; it uses IAM roles and tokens.
- ✗
Store the password in AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store and configure a scheduled AWS Lambda function to update the parameter and the RDS password.
Why it's wrong here
Parameter Store does not have built-in rotation for RDS; it would require custom scripting but is less integrated than Secrets Manager.
- ✓
Store the password in Secrets Manager and configure automatic rotation with a Lambda function that updates the RDS password every 90 days.
Why this is correct
Secrets Manager supports automatic rotation for RDS with a custom Lambda rotation function.
- ✗
Use an AWS Lambda function to manually update the RDS password and store the new password in Secrets Manager, triggered by a CloudWatch Events rule every 90 days.
Why it's wrong here
This is manual and not the recommended approach; Secrets Manager can automate the entire rotation.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.