DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A company runs a MySQL-compatible database on Amazon RDS with a 3 TB dataset. They need to run complex analytical queries that involve joins and aggregations on millions of rows. The current RDS instance is a db.r5.8xlarge with 32 vCPUs and 256 GB RAM, but complex queries take over an hour. Which design change would most improve query performance for this workload?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers assume Amazon Aurora with parallel query is sufficient for analytical workloads, but the DBS-C01 exam tests the understanding that Aurora is still an OLTP engine and that Redshift is the correct service for complex, long-running analytical queries on large datasets.
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
✓
Use Amazon Redshift for the analytical workload
Amazon Redshift is a fully managed, petabyte-scale data warehouse service optimized for complex analytical queries involving joins and aggregations on large datasets. Unlike RDS, which is designed for OLTP workloads, Redshift uses columnar storage, massively parallel processing (MPP), and automatic compression to dramatically reduce query times for analytical workloads. Migrating the analytical workload to Redshift offloads the heavy processing from the RDS instance, allowing it to continue serving transactional queries efficiently.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Migrate to Amazon Aurora with parallel query
Why it's wrong here
Aurora is optimized for OLTP, not heavy analytical queries.
- ✗
Add an Amazon ElastiCache cluster to cache query results
Why it's wrong here
Caching does not help for ad-hoc complex queries.
- ✗
Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) on the RDS instance
Why it's wrong here
DAX is only for DynamoDB, not RDS.
- ✓
Use Amazon Redshift for the analytical workload
Why this is correct
Redshift is a columnar data warehouse ideal for complex analytics.
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