DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
A startup is building a social media analytics platform that requires storing time-series data with frequent writes and queries for the last hour. Which AWS database service is BEST suited for this workload?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often choose DynamoDB (Option D) because of its high write throughput and TTL features, but they overlook the lack of native time-series query functions and automatic data tiering, which are essential for efficient recent-time queries in this workload.
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 Timestream
Amazon Timestream is a purpose-built time-series database that efficiently handles high-frequency writes and recent-time queries (e.g., last hour) with automatic data tiering (in-memory store for recent data, magnetic store for historical). Its serverless architecture and built-in time-series functions (e.g., interpolation, smoothing) make it ideal for social media analytics workloads requiring low-latency queries on recent data.
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 Timestream
Why this is correct
Timestream is a fast, scalable, serverless time-series database.
- ✗
Amazon RDS with MySQL
Why it's wrong here
RDS is a relational database not optimized for time-series workloads.
- ✗
Amazon Neptune
Why it's wrong here
Neptune is a graph database, not suitable for time-series.
- ✗
Amazon DynamoDB
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB can be used but lacks native time-series functions and efficient range queries for recent data.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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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.