CCNA Troubleshooting Questions

75 of 300 questions · Page 2/4 · Troubleshooting topic · Answers revealed

76
Multi-Selecteasy

A company uses Amazon ElastiCache for Redis. They want to monitor cache hit ratio. Which TWO metrics should be used to calculate the cache hit ratio?

Select 2 answers
A.GetTypeCmds
B.CacheHits
C.Evictions
D.CacheMisses
E.CurItems
AnswersB, D

Number of successful key lookups.

Why this answer

Options A and C are correct. Cache hit ratio = CacheHits / (CacheHits + CacheMisses). CurItems is for memory usage, Evictions is for memory pressure, and GetTypeCmds is total get commands.

77
MCQmedium

A company is running an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL DB instance with Multi-AZ deployment. They notice that the primary DB instance is experiencing high CPU utilization. The read replica shows normal CPU. Which action should the DBA take to reduce the load on the primary instance?

A.Failover to the standby instance
B.Increase the DB instance size
C.Convert the read replica to a Multi-AZ standby
D.Offload SELECT queries to the read replica
AnswerD

This reduces CPU on primary by moving read traffic.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because moving read-intensive workloads to the read replica reduces CPU on the primary. Option B is wrong because Multi-AZ failover does not help with CPU load. Option C is wrong because increasing instance size would help but is not the best first step.

Option D is wrong because read replicas are asynchronous and cannot be used for writes.

78
MCQhard

A database team uses Amazon DynamoDB with auto scaling enabled. They observe frequent throttling on a table during peak hours. The table's read capacity is set to 5000 RCU with auto scaling range 3000-7000. The consumed read capacity graph shows spikes to 6000 RCU but throttling occurs at 5500. What is the most likely cause?

A.Write capacity units are insufficient
B.Auto scaling is disabled for the table
C.The table has too many partitions
D.Auto scaling cannot react quickly enough to sudden traffic spikes
AnswerD

Auto scaling has a lag; spikes can exceed provisioned capacity before scaling completes.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because auto scaling uses a target utilization (default 70%) and cannot scale fast enough for sudden spikes. Option A is wrong because auto scaling is enabled. Option B is wrong because WCU are separate.

Option C is wrong because partition count doesn't directly cause throttling if RCU is sufficient.

79
MCQhard

A company runs a production Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL Multi-AZ DB instance (db.r5.large) with 500 GB of General Purpose SSD (gp2) storage. The application experiences intermittent latency spikes every 15 minutes. Monitoring shows that during these spikes, the ReadIOPS metric on the primary instance spikes to 5,000 IOPS (the baseline is 1,500 IOPS), and the BurstBalance drops from 100% to 20% then recovers. There is no increase in CPU or connections. The application uses connection pooling with pgBouncer on an EC2 instance. The team has verified that no long-running queries or index scans are causing the spikes. Which action is MOST likely to resolve the intermittent latency?

A.Create a read replica and redirect read traffic to it.
B.Increase the DB instance to db.r5.xlarge to improve CPU and network performance.
C.Migrate the storage to gp3 with a baseline of 3,000 IOPS and 125 MB/s throughput.
D.Scale the storage to 1,000 GB to increase baseline IOPS and burst credits.
AnswerC

gp3 provides consistent baseline IOPS without burst credits, eliminating the performance variability due to credit exhaustion.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because the burst balance dropping indicates the gp2 volume is exhausting its burst credits. The baseline IOPS for a 500 GB gp2 volume is 1,500 IOPS, but the spikes reach 5,000 IOPS, burning credits. Converting to gp3 provides a baseline of 3,000 IOPS (or more) without burst credits, eliminating the burst balance issue.

Option A increases volume size but does not change the burst behavior (larger gp2 still uses credits and needs even more IOPS). Option C adds read replicas but the issue is on the primary write instance. Option D increases instance size but the metric shows no CPU or connection bottleneck; the bottleneck is storage IOPS credit exhaustion.

80
MCQhard

A company is using Amazon DynamoDB for a high-traffic application. The application is experiencing intermittent `ProvisionedThroughputExceededException` errors. The team has already increased the read and write capacity units multiple times but the errors persist. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the issue?

A.DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) is not properly configured
B.The table is part of a DynamoDB Global Table and replication is causing conflicts
C.The provisioned capacity is not increased enough
D.A hot key or uneven partition access pattern is causing throttling
AnswerD

Hot keys can exceed the per-partition throughput limits, leading to throttling even if overall capacity is adequate.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because hot keys or uneven access patterns can cause throttling even if overall provisioned capacity appears sufficient. Option A is wrong because increasing capacity units should reduce throttling if the issue is simply capacity. Option C is wrong because Global Tables replication does not cause throttling on the source table.

Option D is wrong because DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) reduces read load on the table, not write, and improper use might cause cache misses but not ProvisionedThroughputExceededException.

81
MCQeasy

A developer notices that an Amazon ElastiCache for Redis cluster is experiencing high latency. The cluster uses a single node. Which CloudWatch metric should be reviewed first to determine if the issue is due to memory pressure?

A.NetworkBytesIn
B.ReplicationLag
C.CPUUtilization
D.DatabaseMemoryUsagePercentage
AnswerD

High memory usage can cause evictions and latency.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because the DatabaseMemoryUsagePercentage metric indicates the percentage of the node's memory used, which can cause latency if high. Option B is wrong because CPUUtilization indicates CPU load, not memory. Option C is wrong because NetworkBytesIn measures incoming network traffic.

Option D is wrong because ReplicationLag only applies to clusters with replicas.

82
MCQeasy

A startup uses Amazon ElastiCache for Redis as a caching layer for its database. Users report that application responses are slow. The developer checks the ElastiCache metrics and sees that 'CacheHits' are low and 'CacheMisses' are high. What is the most likely cause?

A.The cluster does not have enough read replicas.
B.The ElastiCache cluster does not have enough write capacity.
C.The ElastiCache nodes have high CPU utilization.
D.The cache key TTL is too short, causing frequent evictions.
AnswerD

Short TTL leads to early eviction and cache misses.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because a low cache hit ratio indicates the cache is not being used effectively, often due to a low TTL. Option B is wrong because insufficient read replicas would not cause low cache hits. Option C is wrong because high CPU might cause latency but not necessarily low cache hits.

Option D is wrong because insufficient write capacity is not relevant for ElastiCache read behavior.

83
MCQmedium

A company runs an Amazon Redshift cluster with 8 dc2.large nodes for its data warehouse. The data engineering team loads data daily using COPY commands from S3. Recently, the load times have increased significantly. The cluster's CloudWatch metric 'CPUUtilization' is high during the load. The administrator runs the STL_LOAD_ERRORS table and finds no errors. The SVL_S3LOG shows that the COPY command is scanning many small files. The data in S3 is stored as 10,000 small CSV files (each ~100 KB). Which action will MOST improve the COPY performance?

A.Use the MANIFEST option to specify the files explicitly
B.Use the JSON format instead of CSV to reduce parsing overhead
C.Consolidate the small files into fewer, larger files (e.g., 100 files of 10 MB each)
D.Change the table's distribution style to ALL to avoid data redistribution
AnswerC

Larger files reduce the overhead of file opening and improve parallelism.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because Redshift performs better with fewer, larger files. Consolidating small files into larger ones reduces the overhead of opening many files. Option A is incorrect because the issue is not with the COPY command syntax.

Option C is incorrect because changing the distribution style does not affect COPY performance directly. Option D is incorrect because the issue is not with the column data type.

84
MCQmedium

A retail company uses Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL as the backend for its e-commerce platform. During a flash sale, the database experienced high CPU utilization and increased the number of active connections. The application team reported that some queries timed out. The database specialist reviewed the slow query log and found that several queries were performing sequential scans on large tables due to missing indexes. The specialist created the necessary indexes, but the issue persists for some queries. Upon further investigation, the specialist notices that the query planner is still choosing sequential scans for some queries. What should the database specialist do to ensure the query planner uses the indexes?

A.Increase maintenance_work_mem to speed up index creation.
B.Decrease the random_page_cost to make indexes more attractive.
C.Run the ANALYZE command to update table statistics.
D.Set enable_seqscan to off to force index usage.
AnswerC

Updated statistics help the planner use indexes.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because running ANALYZE updates table statistics, which helps the query planner choose the best plan. Option B is wrong because increasing maintenance_work_mem helps with autovacuum but not query planning. Option C is wrong because disabling sequential scans is a brute-force approach that may not be optimal.

Option D is wrong because setting cpu_tuple_cost changes the cost model but might not be necessary.

85
Multi-Selectmedium

A company is running a production Amazon RDS for Oracle DB instance. The database specialist is setting up monitoring to detect and troubleshoot performance issues. Which TWO metrics should be used to identify whether the database is experiencing I/O bottlenecks?

Select 2 answers
A.DatabaseConnections
B.CPUUtilization
C.ReadLatency
D.WriteLatency
E.FreeStorageSpace
AnswersC, D

High read latency indicates I/O bottlenecks on reads.

Why this answer

ReadLatency and WriteLatency directly measure the time taken for I/O operations. High values indicate I/O bottlenecks. DatabaseConnections and CPUUtilization measure other resources.

FreeStorageSpace indicates storage capacity, not performance.

86
MCQeasy

A company is running a production Amazon DynamoDB table and notices that read requests are being throttled. The table has on-demand capacity mode enabled. Which action should the database specialist take to troubleshoot the throttling?

A.Check the CloudWatch metric 'ThrottledRequests' for the table and review 'SystemErrors' to identify hot partitions.
B.Enable auto scaling on the table to automatically adjust capacity.
C.Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) to reduce read load on the table.
D.Switch the table to provisioned capacity mode and increase the read capacity units.
AnswerA

Throttling with on-demand can be due to a hot partition; CloudWatch metrics help identify it.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because throttling with on-demand capacity can be due to a single partition receiving too many requests. Option B is wrong because switching to provisioned capacity does not fix the root cause. Option C is wrong because CloudWatch does not have a metric for hot partitions.

Option D is wrong because enabling auto scaling is for provisioned capacity.

87
MCQhard

A company is using Amazon DynamoDB with global tables. The application team reports that data written in one region is not immediately available in another region. The database specialist needs to monitor the replication lag. Which CloudWatch metric should be used?

A.Monitor the 'ConsumedWriteCapacityUnits' metric in both regions.
B.Monitor the 'PendingReplicationCount' metric in the source region.
C.Monitor the 'ThrottledRequests' metric in the source region.
D.Monitor the 'ReplicationLatency' metric in the replica region.
AnswerD

ReplicationLatency measures the time lag for global tables replication.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because 'ReplicationLatency' measures the time taken for updates to propagate. Option A is wrong because 'ThrottledRequests' is for throttling. Option C is wrong because 'PendingReplicationCount' shows number of pending items, not time.

Option D is wrong because 'ConsumedWriteCapacityUnits' is for capacity.

88
MCQeasy

A database administrator notices that an Amazon RDS for MySQL instance's storage is filling up unexpectedly. The administrator has enabled automated backups and retains them for 7 days. Which of the following actions would help reduce storage consumption without losing the ability to perform point-in-time recovery?

A.Modify the DB instance to a smaller instance class
B.Reduce the backup retention period to 1 day
C.Delete manual DB snapshots
D.Disable automated backups
AnswerB

Reducing backup retention period deletes older automated backups, freeing storage space while still allowing point-in-time recovery within the retained window.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because deleting old automated backups reduces storage used by backup data. Option A is wrong because manual snapshots are separate and do not affect automated backup storage. Option C is wrong because disabling backups would remove point-in-time recovery capability.

Option D is wrong because modifying DB instance class does not reduce storage consumption.

89
MCQhard

A company is using Amazon ElastiCache for Redis as a caching layer for a web application. The application's response time has increased, and the operations team suspects that cache evictions are occurring frequently. Which ElastiCache metric should be monitored to confirm cache evictions?

A.CacheHits
B.SwapUsage
C.Evictions
D.CurrItems
AnswerC

Evictions metric directly counts evicted keys.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because Evictions metric shows the number of keys evicted due to memory pressure. Option A is wrong because CacheHits shows successful retrievals. Option C is wrong because CurrItems shows the current number of items, not evictions.

Option D is wrong because SwapUsage shows swap usage, not evictions.

90
MCQeasy

A company notices that its Amazon DynamoDB table is consuming more read capacity than expected. The table has a global secondary index (GSI) with a different sort key. Which action would most likely reduce the read consumption?

A.Increase the write capacity of the table.
B.Enable DAX (DynamoDB Accelerator) to cache read results.
C.Change the sort key of the base table to match the GSI sort key.
D.Create a local secondary index (LSI) with the same sort key as the GSI.
AnswerB

DAX reduces the number of reads to the table, lowering read capacity consumption.

Why this answer

Queries that use the GSI can consume read capacity from the index. However, if the query uses the base table's primary key, it consumes from the base table. Option A is wrong because local secondary indexes don't help.

Option B is wrong because adjusting write capacity doesn't affect reads. Option C is correct because enabling DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) caches reads, reducing read capacity consumption. Option D is wrong because changing the sort key is not a direct solution.

91
MCQeasy

A developer is using AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) to migrate a database from on-premises to Amazon RDS. The migration task is failing with 'Insufficient memory' error. Which resource should be increased to resolve this?

A.Increase the size of the DMS replication instance.
B.Increase the memory on the source database.
C.Increase the Amazon S3 bucket size for staging.
D.Increase the memory on the target RDS instance.
AnswerA

Correct. A larger replication instance provides more memory for data processing.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because the DMS replication instance may have insufficient memory. Increasing its size provides more memory. Option B is wrong because source database memory is not controlled by DMS.

Option C is wrong because target RDS instance memory may not be the bottleneck. Option D is wrong because S3 is not involved in the DMS process by default.

92
MCQmedium

Refer to the exhibit. A DBA sees the above log entries for an Amazon Aurora MySQL cluster. What is the most likely cause?

A.There is underlying storage corruption
B.The reader instance is lagging behind the writer
C.The DB instance has run out of connections
D.A recent backup restore operation failed
AnswerA

Page corruption errors indicate storage issues.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because the logs indicate table corruption and page corruption, typically due to underlying storage issues. Option A is wrong because connection issues would show different errors. Option B is wrong because backup restore would not cause corruption.

Option C is wrong because replication lag shows different symptoms.

93
MCQeasy

A database specialist is troubleshooting an Amazon RDS for MySQL DB instance that is running out of storage. The instance has automated backups enabled. The specialist needs to free up storage space immediately without losing backup capability. Which action should the specialist take?

A.Modify the DB instance to reduce the backup retention period to 0 days.
B.Delete older automated backups that are no longer needed.
C.Delete manual snapshots from the RDS console.
D.Disable automated backups to stop storage consumption.
AnswerB

Automated backups consume DB instance storage; deleting old ones frees space.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because deleting old automated backups frees up storage space without affecting the current backup capability. Option A is wrong because modifying the backup retention period does not free space immediately. Option B is wrong because manual snapshots are stored in Amazon S3 and do not affect the DB instance storage.

Option D is wrong because disabling backups would stop future backups.

94
MCQeasy

A company is using Amazon RDS for MySQL and notices that the Read IOPS metric is consistently high during business hours. The application is read-heavy. Which configuration change would most likely reduce Read IOPS?

A.Add a Multi-AZ standby instance.
B.Create one or more read replicas and redirect read traffic to them.
C.Increase the DB instance size to a larger instance type.
D.Enable storage Auto Scaling on the RDS instance.
AnswerB

Read replicas handle read queries from the primary, reducing read IOPS on the source instance.

Why this answer

Creating read replicas offloads read queries from the primary DB instance to replica instances, directly reducing the number of read I/O operations on the primary. Since the application is read-heavy and Read IOPS is high during business hours, distributing read traffic to replicas alleviates the I/O bottleneck on the primary instance without requiring a larger instance or storage changes.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse Multi-AZ with read replicas, assuming a standby instance can handle read traffic, but in RDS for MySQL, Multi-AZ standby is passive and does not serve reads.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because a Multi-AZ standby instance is for high availability and failover, not for read scaling; it does not serve read traffic and thus does not reduce Read IOPS on the primary. Option C is wrong because increasing the DB instance size may improve throughput but does not reduce the number of read I/O operations; it only provides more capacity to handle the same I/O load, potentially leaving Read IOPS high. Option D is wrong because enabling storage Auto Scaling automatically increases storage when needed but does not reduce read I/O operations; it addresses storage capacity, not read workload distribution.

95
MCQhard

A company uses Amazon DynamoDB with auto scaling enabled. They notice that a table's write capacity is frequently throttled during a specific hour each day. The access pattern is uniform across partitions. Which action would resolve the throttling without manual intervention?

A.Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) to cache writes.
B.Disable auto scaling and set a fixed higher capacity.
C.Create a larger number of partitions by splitting the table.
D.Increase the minimum provisioned capacity in auto scaling.
AnswerD

Correct. Setting a higher minimum ensures enough capacity during the spike, and auto scaling can scale up further if needed.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because auto scaling should increase capacity to meet demand, but if it is not scaling fast enough, adjusting the scaling policy can help. Option A is wrong because disabling auto scaling is not a solution. Option B is wrong because the pattern is uniform, so partitioning is not the issue.

Option D is wrong because DAX is for reads, not writes.

96
MCQmedium

A gaming company uses Amazon DynamoDB with provisioned capacity. During a new game launch, the read activity spikes and some requests receive 'ProvisionedThroughputExceededException' errors. The operations team needs to monitor read throttling in real-time. Which CloudWatch metric should they create an alarm for?

A.ReadLatency
B.ConsumedReadCapacityUnits
C.ReadThrottleEvents
D.ThrottledRequests
AnswerC

This metric specifically counts throttled read requests.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because ReadThrottleEvents directly measures throttled read requests. Option A is wrong because ConsumedReadCapacityUnits shows actual usage, not throttled events. Option C is wrong because ThrottledRequests includes write throttles as well.

Option D is wrong because ReadLatency shows latency, not throttling.

97
MCQeasy

A company runs a production Amazon DynamoDB table with on-demand capacity. The table stores session data for a web application. Recently, users have reported occasional slow response times. The operations team notices that the table's ConsumedWriteCapacityUnits metric shows occasional spikes that exceed the provisioned throughput (though on-demand auto-scales), and ThrottledWriteEvents metrics show occasional throttling. The application uses the AWS SDK with default retry logic. The database specialist is asked to investigate. Upon reviewing the table configuration, the specialist finds that the table has a simple primary key (partition key only) and the data access pattern is heavily skewed toward a small number of partition keys. The application writes in batches of 25 items using the BatchWriteItem API. What should the specialist recommend to reduce throttling and improve performance?

A.Implement write sharding by adding a random suffix to the partition key to distribute writes more evenly.
B.Increase the provisioned read capacity units to handle the load.
C.Switch the table to provisioned capacity mode and increase write capacity.
D.Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) to cache write operations.
AnswerA

Write sharding spreads writes across multiple partitions, reducing throttling.

Why this answer

The correct answer is A because the throttling is caused by a hot partition: the table uses a single partition key, and writes are heavily skewed toward a few keys. By adding a random suffix to the partition key (write sharding), the writes are distributed evenly across all partitions, eliminating hot spots and reducing throttling. The on-demand capacity mode already handles overall throughput, but it cannot prevent throttling on individual partitions when access is skewed.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates assume on-demand capacity mode eliminates all throttling, but it only manages total table throughput, not per-partition limits, so hot keys still cause throttling.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option B is wrong because increasing read capacity units does not address write throttling; the issue is with write operations, not reads. Option C is wrong because switching to provisioned capacity and increasing write capacity does not solve the hot partition problem; even with higher provisioned capacity, a single partition can still be throttled if writes are concentrated on it. Option D is wrong because DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) is an in-memory cache for read operations only; it does not cache or accelerate write operations, so it cannot reduce write throttling.

98
MCQmedium

A company is using Amazon Redshift for data warehousing. The query performance has degraded over time. The DBA suspects that the distribution style of large tables is suboptimal. Which Redshift system view should be queried to identify distribution skew?

A.STL_SCAN
B.PG_TABLE_DEF
C.SVV_DISKUSAGE
D.STV_TBL_PERM
AnswerC

SVV_DISKUSAGE shows disk usage per slice, revealing distribution skew.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because SVV_DISKUSAGE provides information about disk usage per slice, which helps identify skew. Option A is wrong because STL_SCAN is for scan operations. Option B is wrong because STV_TBL_PERM shows permissions.

Option D is wrong because PG_TABLE_DEF shows table definitions.

99
MCQeasy

A database administrator wants to receive an alert when an RDS instance's storage space drops below 10% of total allocated storage. Which AWS service should be used to set up this alert?

A.Amazon SNS
B.AWS CloudTrail
C.AWS Config
D.Amazon CloudWatch Alarms
AnswerD

CloudWatch Alarms monitor metrics and trigger actions when thresholds are breached.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because CloudWatch Alarms can trigger on FreeStorageSpace metric. Option A is wrong because SNS is a notification service, not monitor. Option C is wrong because CloudTrail is for API activity.

Option D is wrong because Config tracks configuration changes.

100
MCQeasy

A database specialist notices that an RDS MySQL instance's FreeableMemory metric is consistently below 100 MB. Which monitoring tool should be used to identify the queries consuming the most memory?

A.Performance Insights
B.Amazon S3 access logs
C.AWS CloudTrail
D.CloudWatch Logs
AnswerA

Performance Insights provides database load and wait events per query.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because Performance Insights shows detailed query-level performance. Option A is wrong because CloudWatch Logs are for log files. Option C is wrong because CloudTrail is for API calls.

Option D is wrong because S3 does not monitor RDS memory.

101
MCQmedium

A company has an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL database that is experiencing intermittent connection timeouts. The application logs show 'FATAL: remaining connection slots are reserved for non-replication superuser connections'. The database has a max_connections parameter set to 200. The application uses a connection pool. The DBA checks the CloudWatch metric 'DatabaseConnections' and sees it at 195 during peak hours. The application is deployed on AWS Lambda with a provisioned concurrency of 100. The Lambda function creates a new connection for each invocation. What should the DBA do to resolve the issue?

A.Reduce the Lambda provisioned concurrency to 50.
B.Increase max_connections to 500 to accommodate more connections.
C.Set up Amazon RDS Proxy to manage the database connections from Lambda.
D.Decrease max_connections to 100 to reserve more slots.
AnswerC

RDS Proxy pools connections and reduces the number of connections needed.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because the Lambda function creates new connections, exhausting the pool. Using RDS Proxy manages connections efficiently. Option B is wrong because increasing max_connections may cause resource contention.

Option C is wrong because reducing provisioned concurrency may not solve the root cause. Option D is wrong because decreasing max_connections would worsen the issue.

102
MCQmedium

A company uses Amazon RDS for MySQL with Multi-AZ deployment. The database is experiencing increased latency and the application team reports slow queries. The DBA wants to identify the queries that consume the most resources. Which AWS service should be used to capture and analyze these queries?

A.Amazon RDS Performance Insights
B.Amazon CloudWatch Logs
C.Amazon RDS Enhanced Monitoring
D.AWS CloudTrail
AnswerA

Performance Insights analyzes database performance and identifies top queries.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because Performance Insights provides a database performance tuning and monitoring feature that allows you to assess the load on your database and determine when and where to take action. Option A is wrong because CloudWatch Logs does not capture query-level performance. Option B is wrong because CloudTrail tracks API activity, not database queries.

Option D is wrong because RDS Enhanced Monitoring provides OS-level metrics, not query-level metrics.

103
MCQeasy

A developer reports that an application is unable to connect to an Amazon RDS for MySQL DB instance. The security group for the DB instance allows inbound traffic on port 3306 from the application server's security group. The DB instance is in a VPC with both public and private subnets. The application server is in a private subnet. What is the most likely cause of the connection failure?

A.The DB instance is in a public subnet and the application server is in a private subnet, so they cannot communicate.
B.The security group for the DB instance does not allow inbound traffic from the application server's security group.
C.The network ACL for the private subnet is blocking outbound traffic to the DB instance.
D.The DB instance is not part of a DB subnet group that includes the private subnet.
AnswerB

The security group must have an inbound rule allowing traffic from the application server's security group on port 3306.

Why this answer

If the DB instance is in a public subnet and the application server is in a private subnet, they are in different subnets within the same VPC, so they can communicate via private IPs if routing is correct. However, the most common issue is that the security group rule is not correctly associated or the DB instance is in a public subnet with a public DNS name that resolves to a public IP, but the private subnet cannot reach the internet. But the question implies the DB instance is in a public subnet; private subnet instances can reach public subnet instances via the VPC router.

However, often the misconfiguration is that the DB instance's security group does not allow traffic from the application server's security group. Option D is correct because the security group rule might be missing or incorrect. Option A is wrong because NACLs are stateless and typically allow all outbound.

Option B is wrong because the DB instance is in a public subnet, but the application server is in a private subnet, they can communicate within the VPC. Option C is wrong because the DB subnet group is for Multi-AZ, not single instance.

104
MCQhard

A company is migrating an on-premises Oracle database to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL. The migration uses AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication. The team notices that the target Aurora database is falling behind the source during peak hours. Which of the following actions would MOST effectively improve the replication performance?

A.Disable Multi-AZ on the target Aurora cluster
B.Increase the Amazon Aurora instance size
C.Use a smaller Aurora instance to reduce write latency
D.Configure the DMS task to use 'Limited LOB mode' and increase the max LOB size
AnswerD

LOB handling is a common bottleneck; using Limited LOB mode reduces overhead and improves replication speed.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because increasing the DMS task's max LOB size or setting LOB mode to 'Limited' can reduce overhead when replicating large objects. Option A is wrong because increasing Aurora instance size may help but DMS task configuration is more direct. Option C is wrong because disabling Multi-AZ does not affect DMS performance.

Option D is wrong because using a smaller Aurora instance would worsen performance.

105
Drag & Dropmedium

Arrange the steps to set up cross-Region read replicas for an Amazon Aurora MySQL DB cluster in the correct order.

Drag steps to the numbered slots on the right, or tap a step then tap a slot.

Steps
Order

Why this order

Cross-Region replicas require binary logging enabled on the source, then creating a read replica in another Region and verifying replication.

106
MCQmedium

A company is migrating an on-premises Oracle database to Amazon RDS for Oracle. The database uses Oracle Data Guard for disaster recovery. Which AWS service should be used to monitor the replication lag between the source and target databases during migration?

A.Amazon RDS Performance Insights
B.AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS)
C.Amazon CloudWatch
D.AWS CloudTrail
AnswerB

DMS provides replication lag metrics during migration.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because AWS DMS provides metrics for replication lag. Option A is wrong because CloudWatch can monitor DMS metrics but is not specific to Data Guard. Option C is wrong because RDS Performance Insights does not monitor replication lag.

Option D is wrong because CloudTrail does not monitor replication lag.

107
MCQeasy

A database administrator notices that an Amazon RDS for MySQL instance is using 100% of its allocated storage. Which action should be taken first to prevent the instance from becoming inaccessible?

A.Modify the DB instance to increase allocated storage.
B.Create a snapshot and archive it to Amazon S3.
C.Delete old binary logs to free up space.
D.Reboot the DB instance.
AnswerA

Correct. Increasing storage is a direct and safe way to prevent the instance from becoming inaccessible.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because increasing storage is immediate and prevents the instance from going into storage-full state. Option A is wrong because deleting logs may free space temporarily but is not a scalable solution. Option C is wrong because archiving to S3 does not free space.

Option D is wrong because it does not solve the immediate issue.

108
MCQmedium

A company uses Amazon DynamoDB for a highly transactional application. The application is experiencing increased latency and throttled requests. The operations team notices that the DynamoDB table's read and write capacity utilization is consistently near 100%. The table uses on-demand capacity mode. What is the MOST likely cause of the throttling?

A.The table has reached the per-table throughput limit for on-demand mode.
B.The table is configured as a global table and cross-region replication is causing write conflicts.
C.The application is not using DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) to cache reads.
D.The table's partition key design is causing hot partitions, and adaptive capacity is not enabled.
AnswerA

On-demand mode has a maximum throughput per table; exceeding it causes throttling.

Why this answer

Option D: On-demand mode has a per-table throughput limit (e.g., 40,000 read/write units per second). When sustained traffic exceeds that, requests are throttled. Option A: Global tables replicate writes to other regions but do not cause throttling.

Option B: DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) reduces latency but can still see throttling if the table itself is throttled. Option C: Adaptive capacity automatically scales partitions but cannot exceed the on-demand limit.

109
MCQeasy

A company uses Amazon DynamoDB and notices that some queries are taking longer than expected. The table has a partition key only. The 'ConsumedReadCapacityUnits' is below the provisioned throughput. What is the most likely cause of the slow queries?

A.DAX is misconfigured and slowing down reads
B.Global tables replication is causing delays
C.DynamoDB Streams is enabled and consuming read capacity
D.The partition key is not distributed evenly, causing hot partitions
AnswerD

A hot partition can throttle requests even if overall capacity is underused.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because if the partition key is not chosen well, data can be skewed, causing hot partitions. Even if total consumed capacity is below provisioned, a single partition may receive more requests than its share of capacity, causing throttling on that partition. Option A is wrong because global tables do not cause slow queries on the source table.

Option B is wrong because DynamoDB Streams do not affect read latency. Option D is wrong because DAX is a caching layer that speeds up reads, not slows them.

110
MCQmedium

A company is experiencing slow query performance on an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL DB instance. The DB instance is a db.r5.large with 16 GB RAM and 500 GB gp2 storage. Which metric in Amazon CloudWatch would most directly help identify if the performance issue is due to memory pressure?

A.Monitor FreeableMemory to see if available memory is low.
B.Monitor ReadIOPS to see if there is a high I/O rate due to swapping.
C.Monitor DatabaseConnections to check for a high number of connections consuming memory.
D.Monitor CPUUtilization to check for high CPU usage.
AnswerA

FreeableMemory directly indicates the amount of available RAM.

Why this answer

FreeableMemory shows the amount of available RAM. Low FreeableMemory indicates memory pressure, which can cause swapping and slow queries. Option A is wrong because CPUUtilization measures CPU, not memory.

Option B is wrong because DatabaseConnections tracks connections, not memory. Option C is wrong because ReadIOPS measures I/O operations, not memory.

111
Drag & Dropmedium

Arrange the steps to create an Amazon DynamoDB global table (multi-Region) in the correct order.

Drag steps to the numbered slots on the right, or tap a step then tap a slot.

Steps
Order

Why this order

Global tables require streams enabled, then adding replicas in other Regions for multi-Region replication.

112
MCQeasy

A database specialist needs to monitor the number of deadlocks occurring in an Amazon RDS for SQL Server DB instance. Which CloudWatch metric should be used?

A.BlockedTransactions
B.Deadlocks
C.DatabaseConnections
D.LockWaits
AnswerB

This is the correct metric for deadlocks.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because Deadlocks is a specific metric in Amazon RDS for SQL Server that tracks deadlock occurrences. Option B is wrong because it is a generic metric. Option C is wrong because it is for blocking, not deadlocks.

Option D is wrong because it is for lock waits.

113
MCQmedium

A company uses Amazon DynamoDB with global tables. They notice that changes made in one region are not appearing in another region after several minutes. Which CloudWatch metric should be monitored to check the replication lag?

A.ConsumedWriteCapacityUnits
B.SuccessfulRequestLatency
C.ReplicationLatency
D.ThrottledRequests
AnswerC

Correct. ReplicationLatency tracks the lag between regions for global tables.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because ReplicationLatency measures the time between the last update on the source table and the last update on the replica table. Option A is wrong because ThrottledRequests indicates throttling. Option B is wrong because ConsumedWriteCapacityUnits measures usage.

Option D is wrong because SuccessfulRequestLatency measures request latency.

114
Multi-Selecthard

A company is using Amazon DynamoDB with auto scaling enabled. Despite auto scaling, the application is still experiencing throttling during traffic spikes. Which THREE actions should the company take to resolve this issue? (Choose THREE.)

Select 3 answers
A.Implement exponential backoff in the application code
B.Enable DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) to cache read-heavy workloads
C.Use DynamoDB global tables to distribute write traffic across regions
D.Switch to on-demand capacity mode
E.Disable auto scaling and set fixed capacity
AnswersA, B, C

Exponential backoff helps retry throttled requests without overwhelming the system.

Why this answer

Options A, D, and E are correct. Enabling DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) reduces read load. Implementing exponential backoff helps retry gracefully.

Using DynamoDB global tables can distribute write load. Option B is wrong because disabling auto scaling would not help. Option C is wrong because switching to on-demand capacity might help but is not always cost-effective and does not address hot keys.

115
Multi-Selectmedium

A database administrator is troubleshooting a performance issue on an Amazon Aurora MySQL cluster. The application is experiencing high latency on write operations. Which TWO CloudWatch metrics should the administrator analyze to identify the root cause?

Select 2 answers
A.ReadLatency
B.DMLThroughput
C.CommitLatency
D.SelectLatency
E.FreeableMemory
AnswersB, C

Shows the volume of write operations.

Why this answer

Option A (DMLThroughput) measures the rate of write operations. Option D (CommitLatency) measures the time to commit transactions, which directly affects write latency. Option B is incorrect because it is a read metric.

Option C is incorrect because it measures storage. Option E is incorrect because it is a read latency metric.

116
Multi-Selecteasy

A database team is troubleshooting a performance issue on an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL instance. They notice that the 'DiskQueueDepth' metric is consistently high. Which TWO actions should the team take to resolve this issue? (Choose TWO.)

Select 2 answers
A.Increase the number of database connections.
B.Enable storage auto scaling.
C.Increase the provisioned IOPS for the instance.
D.Enable query caching in PostgreSQL.
E.Enable Multi-AZ deployment.
AnswersB, C

Auto scaling can increase throughput and reduce queue depth.

Why this answer

Options B and D are correct. A high disk queue depth indicates I/O bottleneck. Increasing IOPS (Option B) or enabling Auto Scaling (Option D) can alleviate the bottleneck.

Option A is wrong because more connections may increase I/O contention. Option C is wrong because query caching is not a primary solution for I/O. Option E is wrong because Multi-AZ does not improve I/O performance.

117
MCQmedium

A company is migrating their on-premises Oracle database to Amazon RDS for Oracle. They need to ensure minimal downtime. During the migration, they observe that the change data capture (CDC) is falling behind. What is the most effective approach to catch up?

A.Disable supplemental logging on the source
B.Increase the instance size of the target RDS instance
C.Pause the CDC task and resume later
D.Stop the CDC and perform a full load migration
AnswerB

More CPU/memory can help the apply process catch up.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because increasing the instance size provides more resources for replication. Option A is wrong because pausing replication would increase lag. Option C is wrong because switching to full load would cause downtime.

Option D is wrong because disabling logging would break CDC.

118
Multi-Selecteasy

Which TWO CloudWatch Logs features can be used to monitor and troubleshoot Amazon RDS for SQL Server error logs? (Choose TWO.)

Select 2 answers
A.Integrating with AWS X-Ray for trace analysis
B.Setting metric filters to count error occurrences
C.Exporting logs to Amazon S3
D.Using AWS CloudTrail to capture log events
E.Real-time monitoring of log streams
AnswersB, E

Metric filters can create alarms based on error counts.

Why this answer

Options A and C are correct because CloudWatch Logs can monitor error logs in real time and set metric filters for specific error patterns. Option B (S3 export) is for archiving, not real-time monitoring. Option D (CloudTrail) is for API activity, not database logs.

Option E (X-Ray) is for tracing, not log monitoring.

119
MCQhard

A company uses Amazon Redshift for data warehousing. A nightly ETL job fails with 'Disk full' error on some nodes. The cluster has 8 dc2.large nodes. Which action will MOST efficiently resolve the issue without increasing costs?

A.Increase the number of slices per node
B.Add more nodes to the cluster
C.Enable compression on all tables
D.Run a VACUUM command to reclaim space
AnswerD

VACUUM removes deleted rows and frees disk space.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because VACUUM reclaims space from deleted rows without adding cost. Option A is wrong because adding nodes increases cost. Option C is wrong because increasing slice count is not possible without changing node type.

Option D is wrong because compression reduces storage but may not immediately free space.

120
MCQhard

A company uses Amazon DocumentDB (with MongoDB compatibility) for its application. The application is experiencing high write latency. The DB cluster has one primary instance and two replicas. Which action should be taken to identify the cause?

A.Migrate the database to Amazon DynamoDB for better write performance.
B.Add more read replicas to distribute the load.
C.Enable Enhanced Monitoring and review OS-level metrics like CPU, memory, and I/O.
D.Enable slow query logging and analyze slow queries.
AnswerC

Enhanced Monitoring provides granular OS metrics to pinpoint bottlenecks.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because enabling Enhanced Monitoring at the instance level provides OS-level metrics that can help identify resource bottlenecks causing high write latency. Option A is wrong because profiling queries in the slow query log may show slow queries but not necessarily latency at the OS level. Option C is wrong because creating additional replicas does not reduce write latency on the primary.

Option D is wrong because switching to Amazon DynamoDB is a major architectural change, not a troubleshooting step.

121
MCQhard

A database team notices that the Amazon Aurora MySQL-Compatible DB cluster is experiencing frequent failovers during peak hours. The failover events are not correlated with any maintenance windows or manual interventions. Which metric in Amazon CloudWatch should be investigated first to identify the root cause?

A.FreeableMemory.
B.DatabaseConnections.
C.ReadLatency.
D.WriteIOPS.
AnswerD

High write IOPS can overwhelm the primary and trigger failover.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because a high volume of write operations can cause the primary instance to become overloaded, leading to failover. Option A is incorrect because DatabaseConnections alone does not directly cause failover. Option B is incorrect because ReadLatency is a symptom, not a direct cause of failover.

Option D is incorrect because FreeableMemory is not a typical cause of failover.

122
MCQmedium

A company runs an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL instance with Multi-AZ deployment. The primary DB instance fails unexpectedly and a failover occurs. Which action should be taken to minimize downtime during future failovers?

A.Configure an Amazon RDS Proxy to reduce failover time.
B.Increase the DB instance size to reduce failover time.
C.Create a read replica in the same region and promote it during failover.
D.Enable Multi-AZ deployment to automatically failover to the standby.
AnswerD

Multi-AZ provides automatic failover to the standby instance in a different Availability Zone.

Why this answer

Using a read replica as a failover target is not supported in RDS for PostgreSQL. Multi-AZ already provides automatic failover; no additional action is needed. Option B is correct: Multi-AZ automatically handles failover.

123
MCQeasy

A company's Amazon RDS for MySQL DB instance is experiencing high CPU utilization. The DB instance is a db.r5.large with 200 GB of General Purpose SSD (gp2) storage. The application is performing many complex queries. Which action would BEST reduce CPU utilization without changing the application code?

A.Create a read replica and route write queries to it
B.Modify the storage type to gp3
C.Scale up the DB instance to db.r5.xlarge
D.Enable the query cache parameter
AnswerC

More CPU cores/vCPUs reduce utilization.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because scaling up the instance provides more CPU capacity. Option B is wrong because read replicas help with read scaling but not CPU on the writer. Option C is wrong because gp3 storage does not affect CPU.

Option D is wrong because changing the query cache is unlikely to significantly reduce CPU.

124
MCQmedium

A database administrator is troubleshooting a failover event for an Amazon RDS for SQL Server Multi-AZ DB instance. The failover occurred automatically. Which AWS service or feature should the administrator use to view the failover history and the reason for the failover?

A.The Amazon RDS console Events page.
B.Amazon CloudWatch Logs for the DB instance.
C.AWS CloudTrail logs to view the failover API call.
D.The AWS Status Dashboard.
AnswerA

RDS events include failover events with reasons.

Why this answer

Amazon RDS events are stored in the RDS console under 'Events' and also in CloudTrail. But the best place to see failover reasons is the RDS console events. Option B is correct because the RDS console shows events like 'failover' with reasons.

Option A is wrong because CloudTrail records API calls, not internal failover reasons. Option C is wrong because CloudWatch Logs does not automatically log failover reasons. Option D is wrong because StatusInsis not a service.

125
MCQhard

A financial services company is using Amazon Aurora MySQL as its primary database. The database has a table 'transactions' that receives high inserts during business hours. The table is partitioned by date. Recently, the application team noticed an increase in lock wait timeouts. The database specialist reviewed the InnoDB status and found that there are frequent gap locks on the 'transaction_date' column. The isolation level is REPEATABLE READ. What should the specialist do to reduce lock waits while maintaining data consistency?

A.Add a secondary index on transaction_date.
B.Increase the innodb_lock_wait_timeout parameter.
C.Modify the partitioning key to use a hash-based partition.
D.Change the transaction isolation level to READ COMMITTED.
AnswerD

READ COMMITTED avoids gap locks for locking reads.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because changing the isolation level to READ COMMITTED eliminates gap locks for non-unique indexes, reducing lock contention. Option B is wrong because increasing innodb_lock_wait_timeout only increases timeout, not reduces locks. Option C is wrong because adding an index on transaction_date may increase lock granularity? Actually, if the index is not unique, gap locks still occur.

Option D is wrong because partitioning does not affect gap locks.

126
MCQmedium

A company is using Amazon RDS for MySQL with Multi-AZ deployment. The application team reports intermittent connection timeouts. CloudWatch shows increased DatabaseConnections and CPU Utilization during peak hours. Which action should the database specialist take to troubleshoot the issue?

A.Add enhanced monitoring to collect additional metrics.
B.Enable slow query log and analyze queries.
C.Create a read replica and redirect read traffic.
D.Failover to the standby instance to refresh connections.
AnswerB

Slow query log helps identify inefficient queries causing high resource usage.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because enabling slow query log helps identify long-running queries causing high CPU and connections. Option A is wrong because Multi-AZ failover does not resolve performance issues. Option C is wrong because enhancing CloudWatch metrics does not directly fix timeouts.

Option D is wrong because read replicas are for read scaling, not for reducing connection timeouts on the primary.

127
MCQhard

A database engineer is reviewing Amazon RDS for MySQL error logs and sees repeated authentication failures from the same IP address. The application team confirms the password is correct. What is the most likely cause of these errors?

A.The password is incorrect
B.The user 'app_user' does not have access from host '10.0.1.50'
C.The 'app_user' account is locked
D.The database requires SSL connections
AnswerB

The user may be defined as 'app_user'@'%' or from a different host, causing a mismatch.

Why this answer

The error logs show authentication failures despite the password being correct, which indicates the issue is not with the password itself but with the host-based access control. In MySQL, user accounts are defined as 'user'@'host', and if the application is connecting from an IP address (e.g., 10.0.1.50) that is not included in the user's allowed hosts, MySQL will reject the connection with an authentication error even if the password is correct. This is a common misconfiguration when migrating or scaling applications across different subnets.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often assume authentication failures always mean a wrong password, but AWS/DBS-C01 tests your understanding that MySQL's host-based authentication can produce the same error message when the host is not authorized, even with a valid password.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because the application team has confirmed the password is correct, and authentication failures from a specific IP with a correct password point to host-based restrictions, not an incorrect password. Option C is wrong because a locked account would produce a different error message (e.g., 'Access denied for user ... account is locked') and would affect all connection attempts, not just those from a single IP. Option D is wrong because requiring SSL connections would cause a different error (e.g., 'SSL connection error: ...') and would affect all connection attempts, not just those from a specific IP; the error logs show authentication failures, not SSL handshake failures.

128
MCQeasy

A team manages an Amazon Aurora MySQL database. They observe that the 'Deadlocks' metric in CloudWatch is spiking. The application uses a single writer instance and multiple read replicas. Which action is most effective at reducing deadlocks?

A.Increase the instance size to handle more concurrent connections.
B.Redirect read traffic to read replicas to reduce load on the writer.
C.Enable Multi-AZ to distribute the load.
D.Review application code to ensure transactions are as short as possible and access tables in a consistent order.
AnswerD

Minimizing transaction duration and accessing resources in a fixed order reduces deadlock probability.

Why this answer

Deadlocks in Aurora MySQL occur when two or more transactions hold locks that the other needs, and they wait indefinitely. The most effective way to reduce deadlocks is to keep transactions short and access tables in a consistent order, which minimizes lock contention and avoids circular wait conditions. This directly addresses the root cause of deadlocks, unlike scaling or redirecting traffic, which only reduce the probability of contention without fixing the underlying locking pattern.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse load-related issues (e.g., high CPU or connections) with deadlocks, and incorrectly choose scaling or read replica offloading, when deadlocks are fundamentally a locking order and transaction duration problem.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because increasing instance size improves throughput and reduces resource contention but does not change the application's locking behavior; deadlocks can still occur if transactions hold locks for long periods or access tables in inconsistent orders. Option B is wrong because redirecting read traffic to read replicas reduces load on the writer but does not affect the locking patterns of write transactions; deadlocks are caused by write-write conflicts, not read load. Option C is wrong because Multi-AZ in Aurora is a high-availability feature that provides a standby replica for failover; it does not distribute load or reduce lock contention, and Aurora's storage is already replicated across three AZs by default.

129
MCQhard

An application using Amazon DynamoDB is experiencing higher than expected read costs. The table uses on-demand capacity mode. The read pattern is mostly fetching small items (1 KB) using GetItem. Which of the following is the most cost-effective optimization?

A.Change the table to provisioned capacity mode with auto scaling
B.Compress the items using application-level compression
C.Use DAX to cache the read results
D.Switch to eventually consistent reads for GetItem operations
AnswerD

Eventually consistent reads consume half the RCU of strongly consistent reads.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because DynamoDB charges for read capacity units based on item size, and using GetItem with strongly consistent reads consumes 1 RCU for items up to 4 KB. Option B is wrong because changing to provisioned capacity may not be cost-effective with unpredictable traffic. Option C is wrong because compression is not natively supported.

Option D is wrong because DAX adds cost and may not reduce RCU consumption if reads are strongly consistent.

130
MCQmedium

A company is using Amazon Redshift for data warehousing. The data engineering team notices that queries are running slower than expected. CloudWatch shows that 'CPUUtilization' is high and 'DiskSpaceUsage' is also high. The cluster has 4 dc2.large nodes. What is the most likely cause of the performance degradation?

A.Insufficient network bandwidth between nodes
B.CPU is the bottleneck and needs more compute nodes
C.Workload management (WLM) queue is causing query waits
D.Queries are spilling to disk due to insufficient memory
AnswerD

High disk usage suggests memory pressure causing disk-based operations.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because high disk usage on dc2 nodes indicates that the cluster is spilling to disk due to insufficient memory. Option A is wrong because network throughput is not indicated. Option C is wrong because WLM queue waits would show in other metrics.

Option D is wrong because high CPU alone does not explain disk usage.

131
Multi-Selectmedium

A company is troubleshooting an Amazon RDS for MySQL DB instance that is experiencing high CPU utilization. The DB instance is a db.t3.medium. Which TWO actions should the database administrator take to investigate the cause?

Select 2 answers
A.Enable Performance Insights to identify the top SQL queries consuming CPU.
B.Disable Multi-AZ to reduce overhead.
C.Modify the DB parameter group to increase the query cache size.
D.Increase the DB instance class to a larger size.
E.Review the slow query log to find queries with long execution times.
AnswersA, E

Performance Insights provides query-level performance data.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because enabling Performance Insights helps identify top SQL queries. Option B is correct because reviewing slow query logs helps identify inefficient queries. Option C is wrong because increasing instance size is a fix, not investigation.

Option D is wrong because disabling Multi-AZ reduces availability, not CPU. Option E is wrong because modifying parameter groups without analysis is not investigative.

132
MCQhard

A company is using Amazon ElastiCache for Redis as a caching layer for a web application. The application team reports that cache miss rates have increased significantly, causing higher database load. The Redis cluster has two nodes (one primary, one replica) with the default eviction policy of noeviction. Which action should the database specialist recommend to reduce cache misses?

A.Increase the memory of existing nodes to accommodate more keys.
B.Change the eviction policy to allkeys-lru to allow Redis to evict less recently used keys.
C.Enable AOF persistence to improve cache durability.
D.Add more read replicas to distribute the cache load.
AnswerB

allkeys-lru evicts keys based on LRU, reducing cache misses.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because changing the eviction policy to allkeys-lru allows Redis to evict less frequently used keys when memory is full, reducing cache misses. Option A is wrong because adding more nodes does not solve the eviction issue if the policy prevents eviction. Option C is wrong because increasing the memory of existing nodes only delays the problem.

Option D is wrong because enabling persistence does not help with memory management.

133
MCQeasy

A company uses Amazon DynamoDB as a session store for a web application. The application uses a TTL attribute to expire old sessions. The company noticed that expired sessions are not being deleted promptly, causing the table size to grow and increasing costs. The TTL attribute is defined as 'expire_time' with a Unix epoch timestamp. The database specialist verified that TTL is enabled. What should the specialist do to ensure expired sessions are deleted in a timely manner?

A.Change the TTL attribute type to String format.
B.Increase the provisioned write capacity on the table to allow TTL to delete items faster.
C.Configure the 'ttl_deletion_lag' parameter to a lower value.
D.Create an AWS Lambda function that scans the table and deletes expired items.
AnswerB

TTL deletion uses write capacity; increasing it speeds up deletion.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because TTL deletion can be delayed if the table has a high write rate; increasing provisioned write capacity can speed up the deletion process. Option A is wrong because DynamoDB does not have a 'ttl_deletion_lag' parameter. Option B is wrong because TTL handles deletion automatically; a Lambda function is unnecessary.

Option D is wrong because the attribute type is correct (Number).

134
MCQhard

A financial services company runs a critical PostgreSQL database on Amazon RDS. The DBA needs to ensure that any database failover is detected within 30 seconds. Which monitoring approach should be used to meet this requirement?

A.Subscribe to RDS Event Notifications and create an SNS topic for 'failover' events.
B.Create a CloudWatch alarm on the 'DatabaseConnections' metric with a 1-minute evaluation period.
C.Use Enhanced Monitoring to monitor the 'engine' process status every second.
D.Enable CloudTrail and monitor the 'FailoverDBCluster' API call.
AnswerA

Event notifications are near real-time and can trigger actions within seconds.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because Amazon RDS Event Notifications for 'failover' events are delivered within seconds. Option A is wrong because CloudWatch metric 'DatabaseConnections' dropping to zero may indicate failover but the alarm evaluation period is typically 1 minute, causing delay. Option B is wrong because Enhanced Monitoring metrics have a granularity of 1 second but do not directly indicate failover.

Option D is wrong because CloudTrail logs API calls like FailoverDBCluster but these are not real-time, often with minutes delay.

135
Multi-Selectmedium

A company is using Amazon RDS for MySQL and needs to monitor for slow queries. Which TWO AWS services can be used to capture and analyze slow query logs? (Choose TWO.)

Select 2 answers
A.Amazon S3
B.Amazon RDS Performance Insights
C.AWS Config
D.AWS CloudTrail
E.Amazon CloudWatch Logs
AnswersB, E

Performance Insights can help identify slow queries by analyzing database load.

Why this answer

Options A and C are correct because CloudWatch Logs can be used to stream RDS logs, and Performance Insights can help identify slow queries. Option B is wrong because CloudTrail records API calls, not database logs. Option D is wrong because S3 is a storage service, not a monitoring service.

Option E is wrong because Config records configuration changes.

136
MCQmedium

A company is running an Amazon RDS for MySQL database. The application team reports that the database is slow. Upon investigation, you notice that the DB instance's CPU utilization is consistently above 90%. Which initial troubleshooting step should you take?

A.Increase the DB instance size to improve performance.
B.Enable Enhanced Monitoring to identify the source of high CPU usage.
C.Delete the slow query logs to reduce I/O.
D.Change the storage type from General Purpose (gp2) to Provisioned IOPS (io1).
AnswerB

Enhanced Monitoring provides OS-level metrics to diagnose CPU bottlenecks.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because enabling Enhanced Monitoring provides OS-level metrics that can help identify resource bottlenecks. Option A is wrong because increasing instance size without diagnosis may not address the root cause. Option C is wrong because switching storage type does not reduce CPU load.

Option D is wrong because deleting slow query logs removes diagnostic data.

137
MCQeasy

A developer reports that an Amazon RDS for MySQL DB instance is experiencing high CPU utilization. You suspect a specific query is causing the issue. Which CloudWatch metric should you examine to confirm this?

A.CPUUtilization
B.DatabaseConnections
C.ReadLatency
D.FreeableMemory
AnswerA

CPUUtilization directly measures CPU usage.

Why this answer

The 'CPUUtilization' metric directly measures CPU usage. Options A, B, and D are not metrics that indicate CPU usage.

138
Multi-Selectmedium

A database specialist is troubleshooting an Amazon RDS for SQL Server instance that is experiencing high CPU utilization. The instance has multiple databases. Which TWO actions should the specialist take to identify the cause?

Select 2 answers
A.Create a read replica to offload read traffic
B.Use Performance Insights to identify top SQL queries
C.Increase the instance size to handle the load
D.Modify the DB instance class to a burstable type
E.Enable Enhanced Monitoring to view OS-level metrics
AnswersB, E

Performance Insights shows top queries by CPU.

Why this answer

Options B and D are correct because they directly identify top CPU queries and resource-intensive databases. Option A is wrong because increasing CPU doesn't diagnose. Option C is wrong because read replicas don't help with CPU.

Option E is wrong because instance class change is a fix, not diagnosis.

139
Multi-Selectmedium

Which TWO metrics should be monitored to troubleshoot an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL database that is experiencing high connection count and connection timeouts?

Select 2 answers
A.DatabaseConnections
B.NetworkTransmitThroughput
C.BurstBalance
D.SwapUsage
E.ReadLatency
AnswersA, C

DatabaseConnections shows the number of client connections.

Why this answer

Options B and D are correct. DatabaseConnections shows current connections, and BurstBalance helps understand if I/O is throttled. Option A is wrong because SwapUsage is not a standard RDS metric.

Option C is wrong because ReadLatency is about I/O latency, not connections. Option E is wrong because NetworkTransmitThroughput is about network, not connections.

140
MCQeasy

A developer is troubleshooting an application that writes to an Amazon ElastiCache for Redis cluster. The application occasionally fails with 'OOM command not allowed when used memory > maxmemory'. What is the most likely cause?

A.The cluster's maxclients limit has been reached.
B.The cluster's maxmemory-policy is set to noeviction.
C.The cluster has too many keyspace notifications enabled.
D.The cluster is in cluster mode and cross-slot commands are used.
AnswerB

When memory is full and noeviction is set, writes fail with OOM.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because this error indicates the cache has reached its memory limit and eviction policy is not set or set to noeviction. Option A is wrong because that error is about keyspace notifications. Option B is wrong because cluster mode may affect sharding but not this specific error.

Option D is wrong because connection limit would show a different error.

141
MCQhard

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?

A.The table has exceeded its provisioned write capacity units.
B.The write traffic exceeds the table's previous peak traffic by more than double.
C.The table is not using adaptive capacity.
D.There is an active AWS Health event affecting the DynamoDB service.
AnswerB

DynamoDB on-demand can throttle if traffic exceeds the previous peak by more than double in a short time.

Why this answer

Even with on-demand capacity, DynamoDB can throttle if you exceed the account-level provisioned throughput limits or if there is a sudden spike that exceeds the previous peak traffic by a large margin. Option C is correct; Option A is incorrect because on-demand does not have per-table limits. Option B is incorrect because adaptive capacity helps but does not prevent all throttling.

Option D is a possible reason but not the most likely.

142
MCQmedium

A company is experiencing high read latency on their Amazon RDS for MySQL Multi-AZ DB instance. The application performs many small, random reads. Which configuration change would most likely reduce the read latency without incurring additional compute costs?

A.Increase the allocated storage size to improve I/O throughput.
B.Enable Performance Insights to monitor and optimize queries.
C.Enable Multi-AZ DB cluster deployment with two readable standby instances and route read traffic to the standby.
D.Increase the instance size from db.r5.large to db.r5.xlarge.
AnswerC

This offloads read traffic to the standby, reducing load on the primary and improving read latency.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because Amazon RDS provides the Multi-AZ DB cluster deployment option which includes two readable standby instances, allowing read traffic to be offloaded to the standby to reduce load on the primary. Option A is incorrect because increasing the instance size would increase compute costs. Option C is incorrect because enabling Performance Insights does not reduce read latency.

Option D is incorrect because increasing the allocated storage does not directly improve read latency for random reads.

143
Multi-Selectmedium

A database engineer is troubleshooting high CPU usage on an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL instance. Amazon CloudWatch shows CPU Utilization consistently above 90% during business hours. Which combination of actions should the engineer take to identify the root cause? (Choose TWO.)

Select 2 answers
A.Enable Enhanced Monitoring and review OS process list.
B.Review the slow query log to identify long-running queries.
C.Scale up the DB instance to a larger instance class.
D.Enable Performance Insights and review the top SQL queries.
E.Install pg_stat_statements extension and query it.
AnswersB, D

Slow query logs can reveal queries that consume significant CPU resources.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because reviewing the slow query log directly identifies long-running queries that can cause sustained high CPU usage on RDS for PostgreSQL. Option D is correct because Performance Insights provides a visual dashboard of database load and top SQL queries, making it easy to pinpoint which queries are consuming the most CPU resources.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often choose Option E (pg_stat_statements) thinking it is the only way to get query-level details, but Performance Insights (Option D) provides the same data with less effort and is the recommended AWS-native approach for this scenario.

144
MCQhard

A social media company runs a multi-region application on Amazon DynamoDB with global tables. The application is deployed in us-east-1 and eu-west-1. Recently, they enabled DynamoDB Streams on the table to trigger an AWS Lambda function for real-time analytics. The Lambda function runs in us-east-1. After enabling streams, they notice that the Lambda function is triggered multiple times for the same update, and the application's write latency in eu-west-1 has increased. The company has strict latency requirements. A database specialist is asked to resolve the issue. What should the database specialist recommend?

A.Increase the Lambda function's reserved concurrency to handle duplicate events faster.
B.Create a separate Lambda function in eu-west-1 and use a local stream.
C.Modify the Lambda function to check the 'awsRegion' attribute in the stream record and ignore records from other regions.
D.Disable DynamoDB Streams on the eu-west-1 replica table.
AnswerC

This prevents duplicate processing of the same write event.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because global tables replicate writes across regions, and each write generates a stream record. The Lambda function should filter on the 'awsRegion' attribute in the stream record to avoid processing the same update from different regions. Option A is wrong because disabling streams in eu-west-1 would break the replication.

Option B is wrong because using a dedicated stream for each region is not supported. Option D is wrong because increasing Lambda concurrency doesn't prevent duplicate processing.

145
MCQeasy

A company is using Amazon Redshift for data warehousing. The operations team notices that queries are running slower than usual. Which Amazon Redshift system view should be used to identify the queries that are consuming the most resources?

A.SVV_VACUUM_PROGRESS
B.STL_QUERY
C.PG_TABLE_DEF
D.STV_TBL_PERM
AnswerB

STL_QUERY records all query execution details, including duration and resource usage.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because STL_QUERY contains query execution details including resource consumption. Option B is wrong because STV_TBL_PERM shows table permissions, not query performance. Option C is wrong because PG_TABLE_DEF shows table definitions.

Option D is wrong because SVV_VACUUM_PROGRESS shows vacuum progress, not query performance.

146
MCQeasy

A company has an Amazon Aurora MySQL DB cluster with one writer and two readers. The application is experiencing high read latency. CloudWatch shows that the 'AuroraBinlogReplicaLag' metric is high for one of the reader instances. What is the most likely cause?

A.The Aurora cluster storage is experiencing high I/O latency
B.The reader instance is not keeping up with the write workload from the writer
C.The reader instance is undersized and needs to be scaled up
D.The DB cluster parameter group is misconfigured
AnswerB

Binlog replication lag means the reader is behind in applying changes.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because high binlog replication lag on a reader indicates that the reader is falling behind in applying changes from the writer. Option B is wrong because instance size affects performance but not specifically lag. Option C is wrong because storage is shared across all instances in Aurora.

Option D is wrong because parameter groups are shared across the cluster.

147
MCQhard

A database specialist is troubleshooting an Amazon Aurora MySQL cluster. The writer instance's CPU is at 90% and there are frequent 'Lock wait timeout exceeded' errors. The application uses many short-lived connections. What should the specialist do FIRST to reduce lock contention?

A.Add additional read replicas to distribute read traffic
B.Increase the instance size to handle more concurrent transactions
C.Enable RDS Proxy to pool database connections
D.Reduce the maximum number of connections in the application
AnswerC

RDS Proxy reduces connection churn, decreasing lock contention.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because enabling RDS Proxy reduces connection churn and pools connections, reducing lock contention. Option B is wrong because increasing instance size adds CPU but doesn't directly address lock contention. Option C is wrong because reducing connections may increase contention per connection.

Option D is wrong because read replicas don't handle write locks.

148
MCQmedium

A developer reports that an application is unable to connect to an Amazon RDS for Oracle database. The security group for the database allows inbound traffic on port 1521 from the application's security group. The database is publicly accessible. What should be checked next?

A.Check the DB parameter group for the 'remote_listener' parameter.
B.Check the automated backup retention period.
C.Verify that the DB subnet group includes a public subnet with an internet gateway.
D.Review the CloudWatch Logs for error logs.
AnswerC

Public accessibility requires a public subnet and internet gateway.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because even if the security group allows traffic, the DB subnet group must be in a public subnet with an internet gateway. Option B is wrong because the issue is connectivity, not backups. Option C is wrong because CloudWatch Logs may not show connection attempts.

Option D is wrong because parameter groups don't control network access.

149
MCQhard

A company runs a document database using Amazon DocumentDB. They notice that some queries are taking much longer than expected. The explain plan shows a COLLSCAN. Which action would most improve query performance?

A.Increase the instance size to the next tier
B.Change the read consistency from eventual to strong
C.Increase the storage allocated to the instance
D.Create appropriate indexes on the fields used in query filters
AnswerD

Indexes prevent full collection scans.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because creating an index on the queried fields avoids collection scans. Option B is wrong because increasing instance size helps but doesn't address the root cause. Option C is wrong because changing consistency level affects read freshness, not performance.

Option D is wrong because increasing storage doesn't improve query speed.

150
MCQmedium

A company is running an Amazon RDS for MySQL Multi-AZ DB instance. They notice that the application is experiencing increased latency during peak hours. The DB instance's CPU utilization is consistently above 80%, and the Read Latency metric is high. Which action would most effectively reduce the latency without requiring application changes?

A.Create a read replica and direct read queries to it.
B.Disable Multi-AZ to free up resources.
C.Increase the DB instance class to a larger size.
D.Enable Multi-AZ on the DB instance.
AnswerA

Correct. Offloading read queries to a read replica reduces load on the primary instance and lowers read latency.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because Multi-AZ deployments with read replicas offload read traffic and reduce latency. Option A is wrong because increasing instance size may help but does not specifically address read latency. Option B is wrong because enabling Multi-AZ alone does not reduce read latency.

Option C is wrong because disabling Multi-AZ would remove the standby, reducing availability.

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