DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A company runs a time-series application that records sensor data every second. The data volume is 500 GB per month and grows continuously. They need to query the last 30 days of data frequently and older data rarely. Which database design is MOST appropriate?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often choose DynamoDB with TTL because they associate TTL with data lifecycle management, but they overlook that DynamoDB lacks native time-series query capabilities and efficient range scans, making it a poor fit for frequent time-based queries.
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
✓
Amazon Timestream
Amazon Timestream is purpose-built for time-series data, automatically storing recent data in memory for fast queries and moving older data to a cost-optimized store. This matches the workload of frequent queries on the last 30 days and rare queries on older data, with continuous growth at 500 GB/month.
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 Timestream
Why this is correct
Timestream is purpose-built for time-series data with automatic tiering.
- ✗
Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL with partitioning
Why it's wrong here
Partitioning helps but RDS is not optimized for high-ingest time-series.
- ✗
Amazon DynamoDB with TTL
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB is key-value, not ideal for time-series queries.
- ✗
Amazon S3 with Athena and partitioning
Why it's wrong here
Athena query latency is higher, not suitable for frequent queries.
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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.