DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
A company runs a critical Amazon DynamoDB table with on-demand capacity. The table experiences throttling errors (ProvisionedThroughputExceededException) during peak hours. The table has a global secondary index (GSI) with a different partition key. What is the MOST likely cause of the throttling?
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
✓
The global secondary index is throttling due to uneven access patterns.
On-demand DynamoDB tables automatically scale capacity for the base table, but a GSI can throttle writes if its partition key creates hot partitions. The throttling on the base table occurs because the GSI write capacity is exceeded due to uneven access patterns. Options A, C, and D are incorrect because on-demand tables handle base table capacity scaling, hot partitions on the base table would cause throttling on the base table but the issue is with the GSI, and read capacity is not relevant given the write errors.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The base table's write capacity is insufficient for the workload.
Why it's wrong here
On-demand tables automatically scale; throttling is rare for base table.
- ✓
The global secondary index is throttling due to uneven access patterns.
Why this is correct
GSIs on on-demand tables have their own capacity; hot partitions can cause throttling.
- ✗
The partition key design causes hot partitions in the base table.
Why it's wrong here
On-demand tables handle hot partitions better; GSI is more likely issue.
- ✗
The table's read capacity is too low for the read-heavy workload.
Why it's wrong here
Throttling errors are for writes, not reads.
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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.