DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
A company is running an Amazon Aurora MySQL-compatible edition DB cluster. The application reports that a recent schema change caused a significant increase in the number of deadlocks. Which parameter should the DBA check and possibly adjust to reduce deadlocks?
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
✓
transaction_isolation
Adjusting the transaction isolation level can reduce deadlocks by decreasing the locking overhead. For example, using READ COMMITTED instead of REPEATABLE READ reduces the use of gap locks, which are a common source of deadlocks. Option A, innodb_lock_wait_timeout, determines how long a transaction waits for a lock before timing out; it does not prevent deadlocks but rather handles lock waits. Option B, autocommit, affects when transactions are committed but does not directly impact deadlock occurrence. Option C, max_connections, limits concurrent connections, which can reduce overall contention but is not a direct deadlock reduction parameter.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
innodb_lock_wait_timeout
Why it's wrong here
innodb_lock_wait_timeout controls how long a transaction waits for a lock before being rolled back. It does not reduce deadlocks; it only sets a timeout for lock waits. Deadlocks are automatically detected by InnoDB, and adjusting this parameter does not prevent them.
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autocommit
Why it's wrong here
autocommit determines whether each SQL statement is automatically committed. It does not directly affect deadlock occurrence.
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max_connections
Why it's wrong here
max_connections limits the number of concurrent connections to the database. While reducing connections can reduce contention, it is not a direct parameter for reducing deadlocks.
- ✓
transaction_isolation
Why this is correct
transaction_isolation sets the isolation level for transactions. Lowering the isolation level (e.g., from REPEATABLE READ to READ COMMITTED) reduces the use of gap locks and other locking mechanisms, thereby decreasing the likelihood of deadlocks.
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