DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
A database administrator is monitoring Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL using CloudWatch. The DB instance shows high CPU utilization, but the number of connections is normal. What is the most likely cause of the high CPU utilization?
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
✓
There are long-running queries or missing indexes causing high CPU usage.
High CPU utilization with a normal number of connections often indicates inefficient queries or missing indexes, which cause full table scans and excessive CPU usage. Option A is incorrect because gp2 burst balance affects storage performance, not CPU. Option B is incorrect because memory pressure and swapping typically cause high I/O wait times, not sustained high CPU. Option D is incorrect because Read Replicas offload read traffic, they do not cause high CPU on the primary instance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The DB instance has a low burst balance for gp2 storage.
Why it's wrong here
Low burst balance affects I/O performance, not CPU utilization.
- ✗
The instance is low on memory and is swapping.
Why it's wrong here
Swapping is related to memory pressure, not directly CPU utilization.
- ✓
There are long-running queries or missing indexes causing high CPU usage.
Why this is correct
Inefficient queries can consume CPU cycles even with normal connection counts.
- ✗
The DB instance has a large number of Read Replicas.
Why it's wrong here
Read Replicas do not directly cause high CPU on the primary instance.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every DBS-C01 question from scratch — 1,663 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.