DBS-C01 Monitoring and Troubleshooting Practice Question
A company runs a PostgreSQL database on an Amazon RDS DB instance (db.t3.medium) with 100 GB of General Purpose SSD (gp2) storage. The database is used by a web application that experiences occasional slowdowns. CloudWatch metrics show that the BurstBalance metric for the storage volume drops to 0% during peak usage and then recovers. The average IOPS during peak is 600, and the baseline IOPS for the volume is 300. The team needs a cost-effective solution to eliminate the performance issues. What should the team do?
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
✓
Migrate the storage to gp3 with 3000 baseline IOPS.
To migrate to gp3 storage. gp3 provides a consistent baseline of 3000 IOPS regardless of volume size, eliminating the need for burst credits. This directly addresses the BurstBalance dropping to 0% during peak usage. Option A (upgrade instance) does not affect storage performance. Option B (increase gp2 to 200 GB) would raise the baseline IOPS to 600 and add more burst credits, but the workload still depends on credits and may not be as cost-effective as gp3. Option D (Performance Insights) is a monitoring tool and does not improve performance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Upgrade the DB instance to db.t3.large.
Why it's wrong here
Instance upgrade improves CPU and memory but does not change storage IOPS baseline.
- ✗
Increase the gp2 volume size to 200 GB.
Why it's wrong here
While this increases baseline IOPS to 600, it still uses burst credits for any throughput above that. The workload peaks at 600, so it would exactly match baseline, but any future growth could cause issues. Also, cost increases.
- ✓
Migrate the storage to gp3 with 3000 baseline IOPS.
Why this is correct
gp3 provides a consistent baseline of 3000 IOPS (or 3000 if using the default) without burst credits, eliminating the burst balance issue and providing headroom.
- ✗
Enable Performance Insights to monitor database load.
Why it's wrong here
Performance Insights helps diagnose but does not resolve the storage performance issue.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This DBS-C01 question is part of Courseiva's 1,663-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.