DBS-C01 Monitoring and Troubleshooting Practice Question
This DBS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring and troubleshooting. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A developer reports that an application using Amazon DynamoDB is experiencing high latency during peak hours. The table has a provisioned capacity of 500 read capacity units (RCUs) and 500 write capacity units (WCUs). The application uses eventually consistent reads and the table is about 50 GB. The developer notices throttled write requests in CloudWatch. Which action would most effectively reduce write throttling?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Increase the provisioned write capacity for the table.
The developer reports throttled write requests, which directly indicates that the provisioned write capacity (500 WCUs) is insufficient to handle the peak write traffic. Increasing the provisioned write capacity for the table is the most direct and effective action to eliminate write throttling, as it raises the limit on write operations per second. Option C is correct because it addresses the root cause—write capacity exhaustion—without introducing unnecessary components or changing read behavior.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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 DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) for the table.
Why it's wrong here
DAX improves read performance, not write capacity.
✗
Create a global secondary index on the table.
Why it's wrong here
Adding a GSI does not increase write capacity; writes to the table also write to the index.
✓
Increase the provisioned write capacity for the table.
Why this is correct
Increasing write capacity units reduces throttling for write requests.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Switch from eventually consistent reads to strongly consistent reads.
Why it's wrong here
Read consistency does not affect write throughput.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may confuse read performance solutions (DAX, consistency changes) with write throttling issues, or incorrectly assume that adding a GSI will offload write traffic, when in fact it increases the write capacity burden on the base table.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, DynamoDB throttles write requests when the consumed write capacity exceeds the provisioned WCUs for a sustained period, typically measured over a one-minute window. Provisioned capacity is distributed across partitions, and throttling can occur at the partition level even if the table-level WCU limit is not exceeded, due to hot keys or uneven access patterns. In practice, a developer should also consider implementing write sharding or using DynamoDB Auto Scaling to dynamically adjust capacity, but the immediate fix for reported throttling is to increase the provisioned WCUs.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Monitoring and Troubleshooting — This question tests Monitoring and Troubleshooting — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Increase the provisioned write capacity for the table. — The developer reports throttled write requests, which directly indicates that the provisioned write capacity (500 WCUs) is insufficient to handle the peak write traffic. Increasing the provisioned write capacity for the table is the most direct and effective action to eliminate write throttling, as it raises the limit on write operations per second. Option C is correct because it addresses the root cause—write capacity exhaustion—without introducing unnecessary components or changing read behavior.
What should I do if I get this DBS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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