DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A company is designing a database for an e-commerce application that requires high availability and automatic failover. The application performs mainly read-heavy workloads with occasional write spikes during flash sales. Which AWS database service is most suitable for this workload?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse Multi-AZ with high availability and choose RDS MySQL Multi-AZ (Option D), overlooking that Aurora provides the same failover capability with superior read scaling and write performance for bursty workloads.
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 Aurora MySQL
Amazon Aurora MySQL is the most suitable choice because it is designed for high availability with automatic failover (typically under 30 seconds) and provides up to 15 low-latency read replicas that can handle read-heavy workloads. During write spikes like flash sales, Aurora's distributed storage subsystem automatically scales I/O capacity without manual intervention, and its Multi-AZ deployment ensures continuous availability even if the primary instance fails.
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 DynamoDB with global tables
Why it's wrong here
NoSQL, not suitable for relational e-commerce data.
- ✓
Amazon Aurora MySQL
Why this is correct
High availability and read replicas for read-heavy workloads.
- ✗
Amazon ElastiCache for Redis
Why it's wrong here
Caching only, not a primary database.
- ✗
Amazon RDS for MySQL with Multi-AZ
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ provides HA but limited read scalability.
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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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.