DBS-C01 Monitoring and Troubleshooting Practice Question
A team is troubleshooting an Amazon DynamoDB table that is throttling write requests. The table has on-demand capacity mode enabled. Which of the following is the most likely cause of the throttling?
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
✓
The write traffic exceeds the table's previous peak traffic by more than double.
Even with on-demand capacity, DynamoDB can throttle write requests if the write traffic exceeds the table's previous peak traffic by more than double. On-demand capacity is designed to handle traffic spikes up to double the previous peak within a 30-minute window. If the spike surpasses that threshold, throttling may occur. Option B correctly identifies this cause. Option A is incorrect because on-demand mode does not use provisioned capacity. Option C is incorrect because adaptive capacity is a feature of provisioned mode, not on-demand. Option D, an AWS Health event, could cause issues but is not the most likely given normal operation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The table has exceeded its provisioned write capacity units.
Why it's wrong here
On-demand tables do not have provisioned capacity.
- ✓
The write traffic exceeds the table's previous peak traffic by more than double.
Why this is correct
DynamoDB on-demand can throttle if traffic exceeds the previous peak by more than double in a short time.
- ✗
The table is not using adaptive capacity.
Why it's wrong here
Adaptive capacity is automatically enabled for all DynamoDB tables.
- ✗
There is an active AWS Health event affecting the DynamoDB service.
Why it's wrong here
Service health events are rare and not the most likely cause.
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JA
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.