DBS-C01 Monitoring and Troubleshooting Practice Question
A company uses Amazon ElastiCache for Redis as a caching layer for a web application. They observe a sudden increase in CPU utilization on the cache cluster, and the application experiences higher latency. Which action should be taken to diagnose the issue?
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
✓
Monitor Amazon CloudWatch metrics for the ElastiCache cluster to identify the cause.
The first step in diagnosing a sudden CPU utilization increase and latency in ElastiCache is to monitor CloudWatch metrics such as CPUUtilization, CacheHits, CacheMisses, and EngineCPUUtilization to identify patterns or bottlenecks. Option A is incorrect because ElastiCache for Redis does not support query profiling; that feature is for RDS. Option C is incorrect because disabling persistence (e.g., AOF or RDB) reduces durability but is not a diagnostic action and may not address CPU issues. Option D is incorrect because scaling up should only be considered after analyzing metrics to determine if capacity is the actual problem.
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 query profiling on the ElastiCache cluster.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. ElastiCache does not offer a query profiling feature.
- ✓
Monitor Amazon CloudWatch metrics for the ElastiCache cluster to identify the cause.
Why this is correct
Correct. CloudWatch metrics provide insight into CPU usage, cache hits/misses, and other performance indicators.
- ✗
Disable persistence to reduce CPU overhead.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Persistence is not necessarily the cause; disabling it may lead to data loss.
- ✗
Immediately scale up to a larger node type.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Scaling is a remedial action, not diagnostic. First diagnose the root cause.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on DBS-C01
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company uses Amazon ElastiCache for Redis as a caching layer for a web application. They notice increased latency and cache miss rates. The cache cluster has 5 nodes with replication. Which metric should be monitored to identify if the cache is under-provisioned?
medium- A.ReplicationLag
- B.CacheHits
- ✓ C.CPUUtilization
- D.Evictions
Why C: High CPUUtilization indicates the cache nodes are overloaded, suggesting the cache is under-provisioned and cannot handle the request volume. Option A is incorrect because ReplicationLag measures replication delays, not overall capacity. Option B is incorrect because CacheHits measure cache effectiveness, but a high miss rate could be due to capacity or other factors; CPU is more direct for throughput. Option D is incorrect because Evictions occur when memory is full, but CPU utilization is a better indicator of processing capacity constraints.
JA
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.