DVA-C02 Development with AWS Services Practice Question
This DVA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of development with aws services. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 developer is building a microservices application composed of multiple AWS Lambda functions and an Amazon API Gateway. The developer needs to trace requests as they travel through different services to identify performance bottlenecks. Which AWS service should the developer integrate?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
AWS X-Ray
AWS X-Ray is the correct service because it provides end-to-end tracing of requests as they travel through distributed applications, including AWS Lambda functions and API Gateway. It generates a service map that shows the flow of requests, latency breakdowns, and identifies performance bottlenecks across microservices. X-Ray integrates directly with Lambda and API Gateway via the X-Ray SDK and tracing headers, enabling trace propagation without code changes.
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.
✗
AWS CloudTrail
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail records API activity on the account but does not trace individual request paths through microservices.
✗
Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch Logs centralizes log files but does not provide distributed tracing on its own.
✓
AWS X-Ray
Why this is correct
X-Ray is designed for tracing requests across distributed applications, allowing developers to pinpoint performance issues.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Amazon Inspector
Why it's wrong here
Inspector is a security assessment service for applications; it does not offer tracing capabilities.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse CloudWatch Logs (which shows logs) with distributed tracing (which correlates requests across services), leading them to pick CloudWatch Logs instead of X-Ray for end-to-end performance analysis.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
AWS X-Ray uses trace IDs and segment documents to propagate context across services; the X-Ray daemon collects and buffers trace data before sending it to the X-Ray API. A key subtlety is that Lambda functions must have active tracing enabled (Active vs. PassThrough mode) to avoid missing traces under high concurrency. In real-world scenarios, X-Ray can reveal that a downstream DynamoDB call is the bottleneck by showing high subsegment duration, even when the Lambda function itself appears fast.
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 cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Development with AWS Services — This question tests Development with AWS Services — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: AWS X-Ray — AWS X-Ray is the correct service because it provides end-to-end tracing of requests as they travel through distributed applications, including AWS Lambda functions and API Gateway. It generates a service map that shows the flow of requests, latency breakdowns, and identifies performance bottlenecks across microservices. X-Ray integrates directly with Lambda and API Gateway via the X-Ray SDK and tracing headers, enabling trace propagation without code changes.
What should I do if I get this DVA-C02 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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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.
Question Discussion
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