DBS-C01 Monitoring and Troubleshooting Practice Question
A database administrator notices that an Amazon RDS for MySQL instance's CPU utilization is consistently above 80% during peak hours. The DB instance is a db.r5.large with 16 GB memory and 500 GB gp2 storage. The application is a read-intensive web application. Which action is MOST effective to reduce CPU load without significant cost increase?
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
✓
Create a read replica and redirect read traffic to it
Creating a read replica offloads read traffic from the primary instance, reducing CPU utilization without requiring a larger instance or more storage. Option A increases cost significantly. Option C may not help if the issue is CPU, not I/O. Option D increases storage but does not directly reduce CPU.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increase the instance size to db.r5.xlarge
Why it's wrong here
This increases cost and may not be necessary if the issue can be solved by scaling reads.
- ✓
Create a read replica and redirect read traffic to it
Why this is correct
Offloads read queries, reducing CPU on the primary instance.
- ✗
Enable Performance Insights to identify slow queries and optimize them
Why it's wrong here
Helpful for query tuning but may not reduce overall CPU load quickly.
- ✗
Increase the allocated storage to 1000 GB to improve I/O performance
Why it's wrong here
More storage does not directly reduce CPU utilization.
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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 database administrator notices that an Amazon RDS for Oracle DB instance's CPU utilization is consistently above 90% during peak hours. The application is read-heavy. Which action can reduce CPU load?
easy- A.Disable Multi-AZ to free up resources
- B.Increase the allocated storage
- C.Enable Performance Insights to optimize queries
- ✓ D.Create a read replica and direct read traffic to it
Why D: Creating a read replica offloads read traffic from the primary instance, reducing CPU utilization. For a read-heavy workload, this is an effective scaling strategy. Option A is incorrect because disabling Multi-AZ does not free up significant resources and reduces availability. Option B (increase storage) does not directly reduce CPU load; it addresses storage capacity. Option C (Performance Insights) helps identify performance bottlenecks but does not reduce CPU load by itself.
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.