DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
A company has an Amazon DynamoDB table with on-demand capacity mode. They notice that write requests are being throttled during peak hours. The table has a global secondary index (GSI) that is also throttled. Which action should the database specialist take to resolve the throttling?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates assume throttling is always a capacity issue and choose to increase provisioned throughput, but the real problem is a hot partition caused by an uneven write pattern, which on-demand mode cannot automatically resolve.
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
✓
Review the partition key design and consider adding a suffix to distribute writes more evenly.
The throttling of both the base table and the GSI during peak hours indicates a hot partition caused by an uneven distribution of write activity. Reviewing the partition key design and adding a suffix to distribute writes more evenly is the correct action because it addresses the root cause: DynamoDB's on-demand mode automatically scales capacity, but it cannot overcome a skewed access pattern that overloads a single partition. By spreading writes across more partitions, you eliminate the hot spot and prevent throttling without changing capacity mode.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Review the partition key design and consider adding a suffix to distribute writes more evenly.
Why this is correct
Even distribution of write traffic across partitions reduces throttling.
- ✗
Enable DynamoDB Streams to offload write operations.
Why it's wrong here
Streams capture changes but do not reduce throttling.
- ✗
Switch to provisioned capacity mode and increase write capacity units (WCU).
Why it's wrong here
On-demand already scales automatically; the issue is likely hot partition.
- ✗
Increase the write capacity of the GSI by updating the table's provisioned throughput.
Why it's wrong here
In on-demand mode, GSI capacity is not separately configurable.
Visual reference
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This DBS-C01 question is part of Courseiva's 1,663-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.