DBS-C01 Management and Operations Practice Question
An e-learning platform uses Amazon Aurora MySQL for its database. The application runs reporting queries that scan large portions of the database, causing high CPU utilization on the primary instance. The primary instance is a db.r5.2xlarge with 64 GB memory. The reporting queries are not time-sensitive but need to return results within 5 minutes. The operations team wants to reduce the impact on the primary instance without increasing costs significantly. Which action should be taken?
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
✓
Create an Aurora Replica and configure the reporting application to connect to the replica endpoint
To create an Aurora Replica and direct reporting traffic to it. This offloads the heavy reporting queries from the primary instance, reducing CPU impact without significant cost increase. Aurora Replicas share the same storage and are cost-effective for read-heavy 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.
- ✗
Modify the DB cluster parameter group to enable result set caching
Why it's wrong here
Modifying the DB cluster parameter group to enable result set caching is not effective for large scans that change frequently; it may help but not fully offload the CPU from the primary.
- ✓
Create an Aurora Replica and configure the reporting application to connect to the replica endpoint
Why this is correct
Creating an Aurora Replica allows reporting queries to run on a separate read-only instance, reducing CPU on the primary. It is cost-effective because you only pay for the replica instance.
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Use Amazon ElastiCache to cache the reporting results
Why it's wrong here
Amazon ElastiCache is for caching small, frequently accessed data, not for heavy reporting queries that scan large datasets.
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Increase the primary instance to db.r5.4xlarge
Why it's wrong here
Increasing the primary instance size would double the cost and still not separate the reporting workload from the primary instance's CPU.
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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.