DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A company is building a real-time analytics dashboard for IoT sensor data. The data arrives as JSON and needs to be stored in a way that supports fast ingestion and complex queries. Which database service is best suited?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently choose Amazon DynamoDB for its fast ingestion and scalability, overlooking that complex time-series queries (e.g., moving averages, gap filling) require purpose-built time-series functions that DynamoDB lacks, while Timestream provides them natively.
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
✓
Amazon Timestream
Amazon Timestream is purpose-built for time-series data, offering fast ingestion of JSON sensor data and optimized storage for time-based queries. It automatically manages retention, compression, and tiering (memory and magnetic store), enabling complex analytical queries (e.g., window functions, interpolation) without manual tuning. This makes it ideal for real-time IoT analytics dashboards.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL
Why it's wrong here
RDS is not designed for high-velocity time-series ingestion.
- ✗
Amazon DynamoDB with TTL
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB is key-value, not optimized for time-series queries.
- ✓
Amazon Timestream
Why this is correct
Amazon Timestream is purpose-built for time-series data, ingesting JSON sensor payloads via its write-optimised storage tier that automatically partitions data by time. This satisfies the requirement for fast ingestion of high-frequency IoT data, while its separate query-optimised tier enables complex analytical queries using standard SQL, addressing the need for real-time dashboarding without schema management overhead.
- ✗
Amazon Redshift
Why it's wrong here
Redshift is for data warehousing, not real-time ingestion.
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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.