DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A financial services company needs to enforce row-level security on a MySQL database hosted on Amazon RDS. They want to restrict access so that each application user can only see their own data. Which approach should they take?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse IAM database authentication (which only handles authentication) with authorization (row-level access), leading them to incorrectly select Option D, while overlooking the need for a proxy-based solution to inject session context for row filtering.
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
✓
Use a MySQL proxy that injects session context variables and enable row-level security in the application queries
MySQL does not natively support row-level security (RLS) like PostgreSQL or SQL Server. Instead, you can implement RLS by using a MySQL proxy (e.g., ProxySQL, Amazon RDS Proxy) that injects session context variables (e.g., user_id) at connection time. Application queries then reference these variables in WHERE clauses (e.g., WHERE user_id = @@session.user_id), effectively restricting each user to their own data without modifying the underlying schema.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Place each user's data in a separate database and use VPC endpoints to isolate access
Why it's wrong here
Overly complex and doesn't use row-level security.
- ✗
Create separate database views for each user
Why it's wrong here
Not scalable for many users.
- ✓
Use a MySQL proxy that injects session context variables and enable row-level security in the application queries
Why this is correct
Allows dynamic row filtering per user.
- ✗
Use IAM database authentication and define fine-grained access policies
Why it's wrong here
IAM auth controls login, not row-level filtering.
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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.