DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A financial services company needs a database for trade settlement records. Each trade must be processed exactly once and the database must ensure ACID compliance across multiple rows. The workload is write-intensive with moderate reads. Which AWS database service should they choose?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often choose DynamoDB with transactions because they see 'ACID compliance' in the DynamoDB transactions feature, but they overlook that DynamoDB is a NoSQL database that does not support relational joins or enforce referential integrity, which are critical for trade settlement records that require multi-row ACID transactions across related tables.
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 Aurora PostgreSQL
Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL is the correct choice because it provides full ACID compliance across multiple rows, which is essential for trade settlement records where each trade must be processed exactly once. Aurora PostgreSQL is a relational database that supports multi-row transactions with strong consistency, and its write-intensive workload performance is enhanced by a distributed storage subsystem that offloads redo log processing, making it suitable for high-throughput write operations while maintaining moderate read performance.
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 Aurora PostgreSQL
Why this is correct
Aurora PostgreSQL provides full ACID compliance and is optimized for high write throughput.
- ✗
Amazon DynamoDB with DynamoDB transactions
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB transactions are limited and not fully ACID across multiple items.
- ✗
Amazon ElastiCache for Redis
Why it's wrong here
Redis is in-memory and lacks ACID durability guarantees.
- ✗
Amazon Neptune
Why it's wrong here
Neptune is a graph database, not designed for transactional records.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
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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.