DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
This DBS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of workload-specific database design. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company runs an e-commerce application on Amazon RDS for MySQL. The application experiences read-heavy traffic during flash sales. The development team wants to offload read traffic without changing the application code. Which solution should be used?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create an RDS Read Replica and point read traffic to the replica endpoint.
Option C is correct because Amazon RDS Read Replicas allow offloading read traffic from the primary DB instance without application changes. Option A is wrong because DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) is for DynamoDB, not RDS. Option B is wrong because Multi-AZ is for high availability, not read scaling. Option D is wrong because ElastiCache requires application changes to use caching logic.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Implement an Amazon ElastiCache cluster and update the application to cache queries.
Why it's wrong here
Requires application code changes.
✗
Configure Multi-AZ deployment for the RDS instance.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ provides failover, not read scaling.
✓
Create an RDS Read Replica and point read traffic to the replica endpoint.
Why this is correct
Read Replicas offload read traffic without application changes.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) in front of the RDS instance.
Why it's wrong here
DAX is for DynamoDB, not RDS.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which DBS-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Workload-Specific Database Design — This question tests Workload-Specific Database Design — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create an RDS Read Replica and point read traffic to the replica endpoint. — Option C is correct because Amazon RDS Read Replicas allow offloading read traffic from the primary DB instance without application changes. Option A is wrong because DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) is for DynamoDB, not RDS. Option B is wrong because Multi-AZ is for high availability, not read scaling. Option D is wrong because ElastiCache requires application changes to use caching logic.
What should I do if I get this DBS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which DBS-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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