DBS-C01 Monitoring and Troubleshooting Practice Question
A company is using Amazon DynamoDB with auto scaling for read and write capacity. During a traffic spike, write requests are being throttled even though the table's write capacity is below the maximum limit. Which TWO actions should the team take to resolve 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
✓
Review the table's partition key design to ensure even distribution of write traffic
A suboptimal partition key can cause a hot partition, leading to throttling even when overall table capacity is not exhausted. Option E is correct because DynamoDB auto scaling has a lag in provisioning capacity; pre-warming by manually increasing write capacity before a spike can prevent throttling. Option A is incorrect because DynamoDB Streams offloads data but does not increase write capacity. Option B is incorrect because global tables replicate data across regions but do not resolve local hot partitions or capacity lag. Option D is incorrect because reducing read capacity does not increase write capacity.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable DynamoDB Streams on the table to offload writes to a Lambda function
Why it's wrong here
Streams capture changes but do not prevent throttling.
- ✗
Create a DynamoDB global table to distribute writes across regions
Why it's wrong here
Global tables replicate writes, but can still throttle in a single region.
- ✓
Review the table's partition key design to ensure even distribution of write traffic
Why this is correct
Uneven distribution can cause hot partitions and throttling.
- ✗
Decrease the read capacity to free up resources for writes
Why it's wrong here
Read and write capacities are independent.
- ✓
Pre-warm the table by temporarily increasing the write capacity manually before the expected spike
Why this is correct
Manual pre-warming can avoid auto scaling lag.
Visual reference
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.