DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A company runs a web application on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. The application uses Amazon RDS for MySQL. Recently, the database CPU utilization spikes to 100% during peak hours. The team observes that the spike is caused by a large number of slow queries. They need to identify and resolve the issue with minimal disruption. Which combination of steps should they take? (Choose two.)
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
✓
Enable RDS Performance Insights to identify the slow queries
The correct combination is A and D. Option A: Enabling RDS Performance Insights quickly identifies slow queries and their resource consumption, pinpointing the cause of CPU spikes. Option D: Creating a read replica and directing reporting queries to it offloads read traffic from the primary instance, reducing CPU load during peak hours. Option B is not an identification step and may not address the root cause, while also incurring unnecessary cost. Option C addresses I/O bottlenecks, not CPU spikes from slow queries. Option E helps with connection management but does not identify or directly resolve the slow query issue.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Enable RDS Performance Insights to identify the slow queries
Why this is correct
Performance Insights provides a dashboard to analyze database performance and identify problematic queries.
- ✗
Upgrade to a larger instance type
Why it's wrong here
Scaling up may help temporarily but does not address the root cause; it is a reactive measure.
- ✗
Increase the DB instance storage to improve I/O
Why it's wrong here
Storage increase does not reduce CPU utilization.
- ✓
Create a read replica and direct reporting queries to the replica
Why this is correct
Offloading reporting queries reduces load on the primary instance, alleviating CPU spikes.
- ✗
Implement connection pooling using Amazon RDS Proxy
Why it's wrong here
RDS Proxy manages connections but does not directly identify or resolve slow queries.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
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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.