DBS-C01 Monitoring and Troubleshooting Practice Question
This DBS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring and troubleshooting. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 using Amazon DynamoDB for a session management application. The application is experiencing higher latency during peak hours. The DynamoDB table uses on-demand capacity. Which TWO steps should a database specialist take to diagnose the issue?
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 for ThrottledRequests to see if any requests are being throttled.
Checking ThrottledRequests helps identify if requests are being throttled, even with on-demand. Reviewing PartitionKey metrics helps detect hot partitions. ReadCapacityUnits and WriteCapacityUnits are not applicable for on-demand. Latency metrics show end-to-end performance but are less diagnostic.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Review the table's ReadCapacityUnits and WriteCapacityUnits to ensure they are sufficient.
Why it's wrong here
On-demand does not use provisioned capacity.
✗
Examine the CloudWatch metric for UserErrors to identify client-side issues.
Why it's wrong here
UserErrors indicate client errors, not latency.
✓
Check the CloudWatch metric for ThrottledRequests to see if any requests are being throttled.
Why this is correct
Throttling can cause increased latency.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
✗
Enable DynamoDB Streams to capture all write events for analysis.
Why it's wrong here
Streams are for change data capture, not latency diagnosis.
✓
Analyze the PartitionKey metrics to detect if a single partition is receiving a disproportionate amount of traffic.
Why this is correct
Hot partitions can cause latency.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
→Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
→Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
→Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
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. NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated. 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.
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related DBS-C01 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Monitoring and Troubleshooting — This question tests Monitoring and Troubleshooting — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Check the CloudWatch metric for ThrottledRequests to see if any requests are being throttled. — Checking ThrottledRequests helps identify if requests are being throttled, even with on-demand. Reviewing PartitionKey metrics helps detect hot partitions. ReadCapacityUnits and WriteCapacityUnits are not applicable for on-demand. Latency metrics show end-to-end performance but are less diagnostic.
What should I do if I get this DBS-C01 question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related DBS-C01 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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Question Discussion
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