This DBS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of workload-specific database design. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 needs a fully managed graph database for a social networking application that requires real-time recommendations based on friend connections. Which AWS service should they use?
Amazon Neptune
Neptune is a managed graph database suitable for social networking.
Amazon DocumentDB
Why wrong: DocumentDB is document, not graph.
Amazon ElastiCache
Why wrong: ElastiCache is a cache, not a graph database.
Amazon DynamoDB
Why wrong: DynamoDB is key-value, not graph.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Amazon Neptune
Amazon Neptune is the correct choice because it is a fully managed graph database service optimized for storing and querying highly connected data. It supports both property graph (Apache TinkerPop Gremlin) and RDF (SPARQL) models, making it ideal for social networking applications that require real-time friend-of-friend recommendations and traversal queries across complex relationships.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Amazon Neptune
Why this is correct
Neptune is a managed graph database suitable for social networking.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon DocumentDB
Why it's wrong here
DocumentDB is document, not graph.
Amazon ElastiCache
Why it's wrong here
ElastiCache is a cache, not a graph database.
Amazon DynamoDB
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB is key-value, not graph.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Amazon DocumentDB or DynamoDB as suitable for graph workloads because they can store JSON with references, but they lack native graph traversal engines and query languages (Gremlin/SPARQL) required for efficient relationship queries.
Detailed technical explanation
Neptune uses a shared-storage architecture with up to 15 read replicas and automatic failover, enabling low-latency traversal queries for real-time recommendations. Under the hood, it leverages a purpose-built graph engine that stores adjacency lists in memory for efficient multi-hop traversals, and it supports the Gremlin query language for property graph models, which allows expressing complex friend-of-friend patterns in a single query. In a real-world social network, Neptune can answer 'find friends of friends who like hiking' in milliseconds, whereas a relational or document database would require multiple expensive JOINs or application-level loops.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A healthcare organisation deploys an application with a public-facing web tier and a private database tier. The database subnet has no public IP and only accepts connections from the web tier's security group. Questions like this test whether you can design cloud network isolation using VNets/VPCs, subnets, and security group rules.
What to study next
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FAQ
Workload-Specific Database Design — This question tests Workload-Specific Database Design — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Amazon Neptune — Amazon Neptune is the correct choice because it is a fully managed graph database service optimized for storing and querying highly connected data. It supports both property graph (Apache TinkerPop Gremlin) and RDF (SPARQL) models, making it ideal for social networking applications that require real-time friend-of-friend recommendations and traversal queries across complex relationships.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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.
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