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 using Amazon ElastiCache for Redis to cache frequently accessed data from an RDS MySQL database. The cache hit ratio is currently 85%. The operations team notices that during traffic spikes, the cache eviction rate increases significantly, and the database CPU utilization spikes. The cache cluster uses a single r6g.large node. Which THREE actions should the team take to improve performance? (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 more shards to the cluster to increase total memory.
Option A is correct because adding more shards to the cluster increases the total available memory, which reduces the frequency of evictions during traffic spikes. With more memory, the cache can store more data without forcing out existing entries, thereby maintaining a higher cache hit ratio and reducing the load on the RDS MySQL database.
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 more shards to the cluster to increase total memory.
Why this is correct
More shards increase aggregate memory and distribute load.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Reduce the time-to-live (TTL) for cached items to free up memory faster.
Why it's wrong here
Reducing TTL would increase cache misses and database load, worsening the problem.
✓
Enable cluster mode to distribute data across multiple shards.
Why this is correct
Cluster mode allows horizontal scaling, increasing total memory and reducing eviction pressure.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Increase the node type to a larger instance class, such as r6g.2xlarge.
Why this is correct
A larger node provides more memory, reducing evictions.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Configure the cache to use lazy loading only for write-through operations.
Why it's wrong here
Lazy loading is a caching pattern, not a scaling solution to handle evictions.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may think reducing TTL (option B) helps free memory faster, but in reality it increases cache misses and database load, making the problem worse during spikes.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In ElastiCache for Redis, eviction occurs when the maxmemory limit is reached and the configured eviction policy (e.g., allkeys-lru) removes keys to make room. Adding shards (partitioning) or scaling up to a larger node type increases the total memory pool, allowing more data to reside in memory without eviction. Cluster mode (enabled via option C) distributes data across multiple shards, which also increases aggregate memory and improves throughput by parallelizing operations across nodes.
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 company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
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 more shards to the cluster to increase total memory. — Option A is correct because adding more shards to the cluster increases the total available memory, which reduces the frequency of evictions during traffic spikes. With more memory, the cache can store more data without forcing out existing entries, thereby maintaining a higher cache hit ratio and reducing the load on the RDS MySQL database.
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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