DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
An Amazon RDS for Oracle DB instance is experiencing high swap usage. The database administrator wants to reduce swap usage. Which action should be taken?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse high swap usage with a storage performance or availability issue, leading them to choose storage type changes or Multi-AZ, when the real solution is to address insufficient memory by scaling the instance class.
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
✓
Increase the DB instance class to a larger size with more memory
High swap usage on an Amazon RDS for Oracle DB instance indicates that the operating system is using disk-based swap space as a substitute for physical RAM, which severely degrades database performance. Increasing the DB instance class to a larger size with more memory directly addresses the root cause by providing additional RAM, reducing or eliminating the need for swapping. This is the correct action because swap usage is a memory pressure issue, not a storage or availability problem.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Change the storage type from gp2 to io1
Why it's wrong here
Storage performance does not affect memory or swap.
- ✓
Increase the DB instance class to a larger size with more memory
Why this is correct
More memory reduces the need for swap.
- ✗
Delete archived redo logs to free up space
Why it's wrong here
This frees disk space, not memory.
- ✗
Enable Multi-AZ to distribute the load
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ provides high availability, not additional memory for the primary instance.
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