DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A financial services company needs a database to store transaction records with strict ACID compliance and the ability to run complex JOIN queries for reporting. The workload is read-heavy with occasional batch inserts. Which AWS database service should they choose?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to choose DynamoDB for its scalability and ACID support, overlooking that it cannot perform complex JOINs required for relational reporting, or they select Aurora Serverless assuming it is always the best Aurora option, not realizing it is designed for variable workloads rather than steady read-heavy patterns.
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 for PostgreSQL
Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL is the correct choice because it provides full ACID compliance through its support for PostgreSQL's MVCC (Multi-Version Concurrency Control) and WAL (Write-Ahead Logging), ensuring transactional integrity for financial transaction records. It also excels at complex JOIN queries for reporting, leveraging PostgreSQL's advanced query optimizer and support for foreign keys, indexes, and CTEs. The read-heavy workload with occasional batch inserts is well-suited to RDS for PostgreSQL, as it can scale read replicas and handle batch operations efficiently with proper indexing.
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 for PostgreSQL
Why this is correct
PostgreSQL is fully ACID-compliant and supports complex queries.
- ✗
Amazon DynamoDB
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB is NoSQL and does not support joins.
- ✗
Amazon Aurora Serverless
Why it's wrong here
Aurora is relational but serverless may add latency; still viable but not best for complex joins.
- ✗
Amazon Timestream
Why it's wrong here
Timestream is for time-series, not transactional ACID workloads.
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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.