- A
Use Amazon RDS Performance Insights to capture SQL queries and store them in Amazon S3
Why wrong: Performance Insights provides performance data, not a full audit trail of changes.
- B
Use Amazon DynamoDB Streams with a Lambda function to capture changes from the MySQL database
Why wrong: DynamoDB Streams are for DynamoDB tables, not for capturing changes from an external MySQL database.
- C
Enable binary logging on the RDS instance and stream the binlog to Amazon S3 using AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
Why wrong: Binary logs are not designed for long-term immutable audit; they are for replication and point-in-time recovery.
- D
Migrate to Amazon Aurora MySQL and enable database activity streams, streaming to Amazon Kinesis Data Streams and then to Amazon S3
Aurora database activity streams provide an immutable, near real-time feed of database activities that can be consumed via Kinesis.
DBS-C01 Workload-Specific Database Design Practice Question
This DBS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of workload-specific database design. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A financial services company runs a core banking application on Amazon RDS for MySQL. They need to maintain a full audit trail of all changes to customer account balances for regulatory compliance. The audit trail must be immutable and queryable for up to 7 years. Which solution meets these requirements with minimal impact on the source database?
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
Migrate to Amazon Aurora MySQL and enable database activity streams, streaming to Amazon Kinesis Data Streams and then to Amazon S3
Amazon Aurora MySQL Database Activity Streams provide a near-real-time, immutable audit trail of database activities at the transaction level, which can be streamed to Amazon Kinesis Data Streams and then stored in Amazon S3 for long-term queryable retention. This solution meets the 7-year compliance requirement with minimal impact on the source database because it offloads the audit processing to external services and does not require changes to the application or additional logging overhead on the database instance.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use Amazon RDS Performance Insights to capture SQL queries and store them in Amazon S3
Why it's wrong here
Performance Insights provides performance data, not a full audit trail of changes.
- ✗
Use Amazon DynamoDB Streams with a Lambda function to capture changes from the MySQL database
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB Streams are for DynamoDB tables, not for capturing changes from an external MySQL database.
- ✗
Enable binary logging on the RDS instance and stream the binlog to Amazon S3 using AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
Why it's wrong here
Binary logs are not designed for long-term immutable audit; they are for replication and point-in-time recovery.
- ✓
Migrate to Amazon Aurora MySQL and enable database activity streams, streaming to Amazon Kinesis Data Streams and then to Amazon S3
Why this is correct
Aurora database activity streams provide an immutable, near real-time feed of database activities that can be consumed via Kinesis.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may confuse binary logging (binlog) replication with a compliant audit trail, but binlog is designed for replication and point-in-time recovery, not for immutable, queryable long-term storage, and streaming it to S3 via DMS is not a supported AWS service integration.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Database Activity Streams in Aurora MySQL use a native asynchronous publisher that captures SQL-level and row-level changes from the database engine's internal transaction log, then pushes them to Amazon Kinesis Data Streams with minimal latency (typically sub-second). The activity stream records include before-and-after images of changed rows, transaction IDs, and timestamps, making them suitable for forensic audit trails; the data can be consumed by a Lambda function or Kinesis Firehose to land in S3 in a structured format like Parquet or JSON for querying via Athena or Redshift Spectrum.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
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 |
What to study next
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this DBS-C01 question test?
Workload-Specific Database Design — This question tests Workload-Specific Database Design — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Migrate to Amazon Aurora MySQL and enable database activity streams, streaming to Amazon Kinesis Data Streams and then to Amazon S3 — Amazon Aurora MySQL Database Activity Streams provide a near-real-time, immutable audit trail of database activities at the transaction level, which can be streamed to Amazon Kinesis Data Streams and then stored in Amazon S3 for long-term queryable retention. This solution meets the 7-year compliance requirement with minimal impact on the source database because it offloads the audit processing to external services and does not require changes to the application or additional logging overhead on the database instance.
What should I do if I get this DBS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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