DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A company needs a database for a serverless web application that stores user sessions. The sessions expire after 24 hours. The database must be highly available and require no server management. Which AWS service is most appropriate?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse ElastiCache for Redis as a 'database' for sessions, but the question explicitly requires 'no server management' and 'highly available' — DynamoDB is the only fully serverless, managed database option that meets all criteria, while ElastiCache still requires cluster management and is not serverless.
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
✓
Amazon DynamoDB with TTL.
Amazon DynamoDB with TTL is the most appropriate choice because it provides a fully managed, serverless, highly available NoSQL database that can automatically expire user sessions after 24 hours using the Time to Live (TTL) feature. DynamoDB's on-demand capacity mode eliminates server management, and its built-in replication across multiple Availability Zones ensures high availability without any manual intervention.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon ElastiCache for Redis with cluster mode.
Why it's wrong here
ElastiCache requires cluster management.
- ✓
Amazon DynamoDB with TTL.
Why this is correct
DynamoDB is serverless, highly available, and supports TTL.
- ✗
Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL with Multi-AZ.
Why it's wrong here
RDS requires instance management.
- ✗
Amazon S3 with lifecycle policies.
Why it's wrong here
S3 is not optimized for session storage.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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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.