DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A company uses Amazon Aurora MySQL-Compatible Edition for its e-commerce platform. During flash sales, the database experiences high write contention on the 'orders' table, causing slow inserts and deadlocks. The development team wants to reduce contention without changing the application code. Which database design strategy is MOST effective?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates assume scaling up the instance type (Option C) or adding read replicas (Option B) will solve write contention, but they fail to recognize that only a multi-writer architecture directly addresses the bottleneck of a single writer node.
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 Aurora Multi-Master to allow multiple write nodes
Aurora Multi-Master enables multiple writer nodes to accept write operations concurrently, which directly reduces write contention on the 'orders' table during high-volume flash sales. Unlike single-master Aurora, Multi-Master allows each writer to handle inserts independently, minimizing deadlocks and improving throughput without requiring application code changes.
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 manual sharding across multiple Aurora clusters
Why it's wrong here
Sharding requires application changes.
- ✗
Add more read replicas to offload read traffic
Why it's wrong here
Read replicas do not help with write contention.
- ✗
Use a larger instance type with higher IOPS
Why it's wrong here
Vertical scaling may improve throughput but does not reduce contention or deadlocks.
- ✓
Enable Aurora Multi-Master to allow multiple write nodes
Why this is correct
Multi-Master allows concurrent writes, reducing contention.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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