DBS-C01 IAM policies Practice Question
A company wants to ensure that only specific IAM users can perform certain operations on an Amazon RDS DB instance, such as creating snapshots or modifying the instance. Which AWS feature should be used to define these permissions?
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
✓
IAM policies
IAM policies are used to grant or deny permissions to AWS resources, including Amazon RDS DB instances. By attaching an IAM policy to a user, group, or role, you can control which actions (e.g., CreateDBSnapshot, ModifyDBInstance) are allowed. Options A, C, and D are incorrect: VPC security groups control network traffic, DB parameter groups manage database engine settings, and DB subnet groups define which subnets the DB instance can use—none of these define permissions for specific 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.
- ✗
VPC security groups
Why it's wrong here
Security groups control network traffic to the DB instance, not IAM permissions.
- ✓
IAM policies
Why this is correct
IAM policies define permissions for AWS actions on resources like RDS.
- ✗
DB parameter groups
Why it's wrong here
Parameter groups manage database engine configuration parameters.
- ✗
DB subnet groups
Why it's wrong here
Subnet groups define which subnets the DB instance can be created in.
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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.