DBS-C01 Aurora Serverless v2 Practice Question
A company is designing a new application that requires a relational database with read replicas for reporting. The application has unpredictable traffic patterns. The company wants to minimize operational overhead and automatically scale compute capacity. Which TWO services should the company consider?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to think they need a separate database service like RDS for PostgreSQL to get read replicas, not realizing that Aurora Serverless v2 already supports read replicas with automatic scaling. They might also overlook the role of RDS Proxy in managing unpredictable traffic.
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 Serverless v2
The company requires a relational database with read replicas for reporting, minimal operational overhead, and automatic scaling of compute capacity. Amazon Aurora Serverless v2 (D) meets all these requirements: it is a relational database compatible with PostgreSQL and MySQL, automatically scales compute capacity based on demand, and supports up to 15 read replicas for reporting workloads. Amazon RDS Proxy (E) provides connection pooling to handle unpredictable traffic patterns efficiently, reducing overhead and improving scalability. Together, these two services fulfill the requirements without the need for an additional database instance, making option C unnecessary.
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 Accelerator (DAX)
Why it's wrong here
Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) is an in-memory cache for DynamoDB, which is a NoSQL database, not relational. It does not provide a relational database or read replicas.
- ✗
Amazon RDS for MySQL with Multi-AZ
Why it's wrong here
Amazon RDS for MySQL with Multi-AZ provides high availability but does not automatically scale compute capacity. Multi-AZ offers a standby instance for failover, not read scaling.
- ✗
Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL with read replicas
Why it's wrong here
Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL with read replicas provides a relational database and read replicas, but it does not automatically scale compute capacity. Additionally, since Aurora Serverless v2 already provides these features with automatic scaling, using both would be redundant and increase operational overhead.
- ✓
Amazon Aurora Serverless v2
Why this is correct
Amazon Aurora Serverless v2 automatically scales compute capacity, supports read replicas for reporting, and minimizes operational overhead, making it a correct choice.
- ✓
Amazon RDS Proxy
Why this is correct
Amazon RDS Proxy provides connection pooling to handle unpredictable traffic patterns efficiently, reducing overhead and improving scalability, making it a correct choice.
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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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.