DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
A company needs to ensure that all changes to an Amazon RDS DB instance's security group are logged for auditing purposes. Which AWS service should be enabled?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse AWS Config's configuration tracking with CloudTrail's API logging, not realizing that Config evaluates resource compliance but does not capture the who, what, and when of API calls that change security groups.
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 calls made to the AWS environment, including actions like AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress and RevokeSecurityGroupEgress that modify security group rules. When enabled, CloudTrail logs all changes to Amazon RDS security groups as management events, providing an immutable audit trail that can be stored in Amazon S3 for compliance and 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.
- ✗
Amazon RDS Event Subscriptions
Why it's wrong here
RDS event subscriptions notify about database events, not security group API calls.
- ✓
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
CloudTrail logs all API actions, including security group modifications.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config tracks resource configuration changes and assesses compliance against desired states, making it valuable for auditing the *history* and *compliance* of security group configurations. However, it does not log the specific API calls, like `RevokeSecurityGroupIngress`, that modify the security group. The requirement for logging *changes* for auditing implies capturing the detailed API *events* (who, what, when) that caused the modification. AWS Config would be correct if the goal was to ensure security groups adhere to specific rules or to maintain a configuration history.
- ✗
VPC Flow Logs
Why it's wrong here
VPC Flow Logs capture IP traffic information, not API calls.
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.