DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A healthcare application requires storing patient records that include structured data (e.g., name, age) and unstructured data (e.g., medical images). The application needs to query structured data with SQL and serve images via HTTPS. Which combination of AWS services provides the MOST efficient design?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to choose DynamoDB (Option A) thinking it handles both structured and unstructured data, but it lacks SQL support, which is explicitly required for querying structured data in this scenario.
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 for structured data and Amazon S3 for images with Amazon CloudFront
Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL provides full SQL querying capabilities for structured patient data, while Amazon S3 with Amazon CloudFront offers scalable, low-latency HTTPS serving of medical images. CloudFront caches images at edge locations, reducing latency and offloading S3, which is the most efficient design for mixed structured/unstructured workloads.
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 DynamoDB for structured data and Amazon S3 for images with DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX)
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB does not support SQL queries.
- ✗
Amazon RDS for MySQL for structured data and Amazon EFS for images
Why it's wrong here
EFS is a file system, not designed for high-throughput image serving.
- ✓
Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL for structured data and Amazon S3 for images with Amazon CloudFront
Why this is correct
RDS provides SQL; S3 and CloudFront serve images efficiently.
- ✗
Amazon Redshift for structured data and Amazon S3 for images
Why it's wrong here
Redshift is for analytics, not transactional SQL queries.
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 |
Go deeper
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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.