DVA-C02 Development with AWS Services Practice Question
A developer is writing a Lambda function in Node.js that reads a secret from AWS Secrets Manager on every invocation. The function runs frequently, and the developer wants to minimize both latency and the number of Secrets Manager API calls. Which approach should the developer take?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that any code inside the Lambda handler runs only once per function, when in fact the handler runs on every invocation while global scope persists across warm starts.
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
✓
Call GetSecretValue inside the handler and cache the value in a variable declared in the global scope of the module.
Declaring the secret variable in the global scope and populating it inside the handler lets warm Lambda execution environments reuse the value across invocations. This minimizes Secrets Manager GetSecretValue calls and latency while preserving correct behavior on cold starts, when the variable is repopulated.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Call GetSecretValue inside the handler and cache the value in a variable declared in the global scope of the module.
Why this is correct
Variables declared outside the handler persist across warm invocations of the same execution environment. Fetching the secret once and reusing the cached value reduces Secrets Manager calls and avoids repeated network latency on subsequent warm invocations while still working correctly on cold starts.
- ✗
Call GetSecretValue inside the handler on every invocation and enable AWS X-Ray tracing to reduce the API call latency.
Why it's wrong here
X-Ray traces requests for observability; it does not accelerate or cache Secrets Manager calls. Calling GetSecretValue on every invocation still incurs API latency and request charges, so this does not meet the goal of reducing the number of Secrets Manager calls.
- ✗
Call GetSecretValue in the handler but set the AWS SDK maxRetries to 0 to reduce the number of API calls.
Why it's wrong here
Setting maxRetries to 0 disables SDK retry behavior; it does not reduce the initial call count. The function still calls Secrets Manager on every invocation, so latency and API usage remain high, and transient throttling errors become more likely.
- ✗
Store the secret as a Lambda environment variable and remove all Secrets Manager permissions from the function role.
Why it's wrong here
Environment variables are static, visible in the function configuration, and not automatically rotated. Embedding the secret there eliminates Secrets Manager benefits such as rotation and fine-grained access, and it does not reflect updates without redeploying the function.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
This DVA-C02 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 DVA-C02 exam.