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 serverless application using AWS Lambda that needs to connect to an Amazon RDS MySQL database. The function will be deployed in a VPC. Which resource should the developer use to ensure secure and efficient database connections?
Why wrong: A NAT Gateway is used to allow instances in a private subnet to access the internet. It does not help with database connections.
B
RDS Proxy
RDS Proxy is designed for applications like Lambda that open many short-lived connections. It pools connections to the database, reducing connection overhead and improving scalability and security.
C
VPC Endpoint
Why wrong: A VPC Endpoint allows private connectivity to AWS services like S3 or DynamoDB, but not to RDS databases. It is not applicable here.
D
AWS PrivateLink
Why wrong: AWS PrivateLink is used to access services hosted on AWS or by third parties privately. RDS Proxy itself uses PrivateLink internally, but this is not a resource you configure for database connections.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
RDS Proxy
RDS Proxy is the correct choice because it manages a pool of database connections, allowing Lambda functions to reuse them efficiently and avoid exhausting MySQL connection limits under high concurrency. It also enforces IAM authentication and securely stores credentials in AWS Secrets Manager, eliminating the need to hardcode database passwords in the function code.
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.
✗
NAT Gateway
Why it's wrong here
A NATGateway is used to allow instances in a private subnet to access the internet. It does not help with database connections.
✓
RDS Proxy
Why this is correct
RDS Proxy is designed for applications like Lambda that open many short-lived connections. It pools connections to the database, reducing connection overhead and improving scalability and security.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
VPC Endpoint
Why it's wrong here
A VPC Endpoint allows private connectivity to AWS services like S3 or DynamoDB, but not to RDS databases. It is not applicable here.
✗
AWS PrivateLink
Why it's wrong here
AWS PrivateLink is used to access services hosted on AWS or by third parties privately. RDS Proxy itself uses PrivateLink internally, but this is not a resource you configure for database connections.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse VPC Endpoints or PrivateLink with database connectivity, not realizing that RDS Proxy is the only service designed specifically to solve connection management and security for Lambda functions accessing RDS in a VPC.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
RDS Proxy sits between Lambda and the RDS instance, maintaining a warm pool of connections that are multiplexed across multiple invocations, which prevents the 'too many connections' error when Lambda scales rapidly. It also supports IAM database authentication, allowing Lambda to assume an IAM role and obtain a temporary token instead of using a static password, and it automatically handles failover to a standby instance in Multi-AZ deployments without breaking the connection pool.
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 company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
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: RDS Proxy — RDS Proxy is the correct choice because it manages a pool of database connections, allowing Lambda functions to reuse them efficiently and avoid exhausting MySQL connection limits under high concurrency. It also enforces IAM authentication and securely stores credentials in AWS Secrets Manager, eliminating the need to hardcode database passwords in the function code.
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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