DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
A database specialist needs to monitor the resource utilization of Amazon RDS DB instances. Which AWS service provides OS-level metrics such as memory, disk, and CPU usage?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse CloudWatch’s basic RDS metrics (which are hypervisor-level) with the OS-level metrics provided only by Enhanced Monitoring, leading them to incorrectly select CloudWatch.
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
✓
Amazon RDS Enhanced Monitoring
Amazon RDS Enhanced Monitoring provides OS-level metrics (e.g., memory, disk, CPU usage) by running an agent on the RDS host and delivering logs to CloudWatch Logs. This is the only service that exposes hypervisor-level and guest OS metrics for RDS instances, enabling granular troubleshooting of resource contention.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon RDS Performance Insights
Why it's wrong here
Performance Insights shows database load and queries, not OS metrics.
- ✓
Amazon RDS Enhanced Monitoring
Why this is correct
Enhanced Monitoring provides OS-level metrics.
- ✗
Amazon CloudWatch
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch provides hypervisor-level metrics for RDS.
- ✗
AWS CloudTrail
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail logs API activity, not performance metrics.
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.