DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
This DBS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of management and operations. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company is running a production Amazon DynamoDB table with on-demand capacity. The table experiences occasional throttling during traffic spikes. The table's partition key is a timestamp, and the workload is write-heavy. The operations team needs to reduce throttling. Which THREE actions should the team take? (Choose three.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Add a random suffix to the partition key to distribute writes evenly.
Option A is correct because adding a random suffix to the timestamp partition key breaks the sequential write pattern, distributing writes evenly across all partitions. This prevents hot partitions, which are the root cause of throttling in a write-heavy workload with a monotonically increasing partition key.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
Add a random suffix to the partition key to distribute writes evenly.
Why this is correct
This prevents hot partitions.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Increase the read capacity units for the table.
Why it's wrong here
The issue is write throttling, not read.
✓
Use DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) to cache read-heavy queries.
Why this is correct
Reducing read load frees capacity for writes.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Switch to provisioned capacity mode with auto scaling.
Why this is correct
Provisioned capacity with auto scaling can handle spikes better than on-demand.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Enable DynamoDB global tables to distribute write traffic.
Why it's wrong here
Global tables do not solve local partition hot spots.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume on-demand capacity eliminates all throttling, but they overlook that throttling can still occur at the partition level due to uneven access patterns, which requires application-level key design changes to resolve.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
DynamoDB partitions data based on the partition key's hash value. A timestamp key causes all writes to target the same partition (the latest time slice), creating a hot partition. Adding a random suffix (e.g., a number from 0-9) distributes writes across 10 logical partitions, each mapping to different physical partitions, thus utilizing the full write throughput of the table. On-demand capacity automatically scales, but it cannot eliminate hot partition throttling because throttling occurs at the partition level, not the table level.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Management and Operations — This question tests Management and Operations — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Add a random suffix to the partition key to distribute writes evenly. — Option A is correct because adding a random suffix to the timestamp partition key breaks the sequential write pattern, distributing writes evenly across all partitions. This prevents hot partitions, which are the root cause of throttling in a write-heavy workload with a monotonically increasing partition key.
What should I do if I get this DBS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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