DBS-C01 Monitoring and Troubleshooting Practice Question
A company's DynamoDB table uses provisioned capacity and has a global table for disaster recovery. Write requests to the replica region are failing with ProvisionedThroughputExceededException even though the replica table shows low consumed capacity. What is the MOST likely cause?
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
✓
The replica table's write capacity is insufficient for replication writes
In DynamoDB global tables, writes to the replica region consume write capacity units (WCUs) on the replica table. If the provisioned write capacity on the replica table is insufficient to handle the replication traffic, the replica will throttle incoming write requests with a ProvisionedThroughputExceededException, even if the consumed capacity appears low because throttling occurs before the write is counted. Option C correctly identifies this cause. Option A is incorrect because auto-scaling adjusts capacity over time but does not directly cause throttling. Option B is incorrect because burst capacity provides short-term flexibility; sustained throttling is due to insufficient capacity, not burst exhaustion. Option D is incorrect because DAX is an in-memory cache for reads and does not affect write operations.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Auto-scaling is disabled on the replica table
Why it's wrong here
Auto-scaling is disabled on the replica table. While auto-scaling helps adjust capacity, its absence does not directly cause throttling; the immediate issue is that the provisioned capacity is too low for the replication writes.
- ✗
The replica table is exhausting its burst capacity
Why it's wrong here
The replica table is exhausting its burst capacity. Burst capacity allows short-term spikes, but throttling occurs when sustained writes exceed the provisioned capacity, not specifically when burst is exhausted. The root cause remains insufficient write capacity.
- ✓
The replica table's write capacity is insufficient for replication writes
Why this is correct
The replica table's write capacity is insufficient for replication writes. This is correct because global table replication consumes write capacity on the replica, and if that capacity is insufficient, writes are throttled.
- ✗
DAX is enabled on the replica table
Why it's wrong here
DAX is enabled on the replica table. DAX is a caching layer for read operations and does not affect write capacity or throttling of write requests.
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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.