DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
A company needs to ensure that all changes to an Amazon RDS DB instance are logged for auditing purposes. Which AWS service should be enabled?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse AWS Config (which tracks configuration changes) with CloudTrail (which tracks API calls), but Config only records the state of resources after a change, not the who, what, or when of the API action that caused it.
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
✓
AWS CloudTrail
AWS CloudTrail is the correct service because it records API activity for Amazon RDS, including calls to create, modify, or delete DB instances, as well as changes to security groups, parameter groups, and automated backups. CloudTrail logs these events to an S3 bucket or CloudWatch Logs, providing a durable audit trail for all management-plane operations on the RDS DB instance. This directly meets the requirement to log all changes for auditing purposes.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
CloudTrail records all RDS API calls for auditing.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config evaluates resource compliance but does not log all API calls.
- ✗
Amazon GuardDuty
Why it's wrong here
GuardDuty is for threat detection, not audit logging.
- ✗
Amazon Inspector
Why it's wrong here
Inspector is for vulnerability assessment, not audit logging.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
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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.