DBS-C01 Monitoring and Troubleshooting Practice Question
A company is running a production Amazon DynamoDB table and notices that read requests are being throttled. The table has on-demand capacity mode enabled. Which action should the database specialist take to troubleshoot the throttling?
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
✓
Check the CloudWatch metric 'ThrottledRequests' for the table and review 'SystemErrors' to identify hot partitions.
With on-demand capacity, throttling often results from hot partitions. The CloudWatch metric 'ThrottledRequests' helps detect throttling, and reviewing 'SystemErrors' can indicate partition-level errors, aiding in identifying hot partitions. Option B is incorrect because auto scaling is only supported for provisioned capacity mode, not on-demand. Option C is incorrect because enabling DAX can reduce read load but does not address the root cause of throttling due to hot partitions; it is not a troubleshooting step. Option D is incorrect because switching to provisioned capacity and increasing RCUs is a remediation action, not a troubleshooting action.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Check the CloudWatch metric 'ThrottledRequests' for the table and review 'SystemErrors' to identify hot partitions.
Why this is correct
Throttling with on-demand can be due to a hot partition; CloudWatch metrics help identify it.
- ✗
Enable auto scaling on the table to automatically adjust capacity.
Why it's wrong here
Auto scaling is for provisioned capacity mode, not on-demand.
- ✗
Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) to reduce read load on the table.
Why it's wrong here
DAX is a caching layer but does not resolve throttling due to hot partitions.
- ✗
Switch the table to provisioned capacity mode and increase the read capacity units.
Why it's wrong here
Switching to provisioned capacity does not address the underlying hot partition issue.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 1,663 original DBS-C01 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. 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.