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 RESTful API that allows clients to query a database and retrieve results. The backend logic is implemented in AWS Lambda, which queries an Amazon DynamoDB table. The developer wants to expose the API over HTTPS and manage authentication and throttling. Which AWS service should the developer use to create and manage the API endpoints?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Amazon API Gateway
Amazon API Gateway is the correct choice because it is a fully managed service that enables developers to create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure RESTful APIs at any scale. It directly supports HTTPS endpoints, integrates natively with AWS Lambda for backend logic, and provides built-in features for authentication (e.g., IAM, Cognito, Lambda authorizers) and throttling (usage plans and rate limits). This makes it the ideal service for exposing a Lambda-backed DynamoDB query as a secure, managed API.
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.
✗
Application Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
ALB distributes traffic to targets but lacks API-specific features like API keys, usage plans, and request validation.
✓
Amazon API Gateway
Why this is correct
API Gateway provides a fully managed API frontend with HTTPS, authentication, throttling, and integration with Lambda and DynamoDB.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
AWS CloudFront
Why it's wrong here
CloudFront is a CDN that caches content; it can be used with API Gateway but is not the primary service for creating APIs.
✗
Amazon S3
Why it's wrong here
S3 is an object storage service and cannot execute backend logic or provide a full API.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may confuse an Application Load Balancer with API Gateway because both can invoke Lambda functions, but ALB lacks API management features like authentication, throttling, and API key validation, which are explicitly required in the question.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
API Gateway supports multiple endpoint types (REST, HTTP, WebSocket) and integrates with AWS Lambda via proxy integration, where the entire HTTP request is passed to the Lambda function and the function returns a formatted response. Under the hood, API Gateway handles request/response transformation, can cache responses, and enforces throttling at the account, stage, and method levels using token bucket algorithms. A real-world scenario where this matters is when you need to protect a DynamoDB-backed API from sudden traffic spikes—API Gateway's throttling prevents excessive costs and ensures fair usage without requiring custom code.
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.
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: Amazon API Gateway — Amazon API Gateway is the correct choice because it is a fully managed service that enables developers to create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure RESTful APIs at any scale. It directly supports HTTPS endpoints, integrates natively with AWS Lambda for backend logic, and provides built-in features for authentication (e.g., IAM, Cognito, Lambda authorizers) and throttling (usage plans and rate limits). This makes it the ideal service for exposing a Lambda-backed DynamoDB query as a secure, managed API.
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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Question Discussion
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