Question 1easymultiple choice
Full question →easymultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A developer is building an AWS Lambda function that needs to retrieve a database password securely. The password is stored in AWS Secrets Manager and is rotated every 30 days. The function must minimize the number of API calls to Secrets Manager. Which approach should the developer use?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Distractor review
Store the database password as an encrypted environment variable in the Lambda function.
Environment variables are not automatically rotated and would require redeployment of the function to change the password. Secrets Manager provides rotation support.
B
Distractor review
Call Secrets Manager on every invocation to get the latest secret.
This increases latency and cost due to multiple API calls. Caching is more efficient.
C
Best answer
Retrieve the secret from Secrets Manager once outside the handler function, cache it in a global variable, and refresh the cache if the secret fails.
Caching the secret in the global scope allows reuse across invocations within the same execution environment. If the secret is rotated, the cache can be refreshed when the cached secret fails to authenticate.
D
Distractor review
Use AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store SecureString instead of Secrets Manager.
Parameter Store does not support automatic rotation natively. The requirement states the password is stored in Secrets Manager with rotation, so Secrets Manager should be used.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- 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.
Related practice questions
Related DVA-C02 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A developer is building a REST API using Amazon API Gateway that will serve static content from an Amazon S3 bucket. The API should cache responses for frequently accessed objects to reduce latency. Which API Gateway feature should the developer enable?
Question 2
A developer is running a web application on multiple Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application needs to store user session state that must be available across all instances. The session data is small and temporary but must survive individual instance failures. Which AWS service should the developer use to store this session state?
Question 3
A developer has an AWS Lambda function that processes messages from an Amazon SQS standard queue. The function is idempotent and currently has a batch size of 10. The developer wants to increase throughput and increases the batch size to 100. After the change, CloudWatch metrics show a significant increase in throttles and the queue backlog is growing. The function's reserved concurrency is set to 10. What is the most effective action to resolve the throttling and improve throughput?
Question 4
A developer is managing an application running on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. Users report that the application becomes unresponsive after several hours, and restarting the instance temporarily fixes the issue. The developer suspects a memory leak but cannot add custom instrumentation. Which AWS service can collect memory utilization metrics and help identify the memory leak with minimal configuration?
Question 5
A developer is building a serverless web application using AWS Lambda and Amazon DynamoDB. The application needs to perform complex aggregations on data stored in DynamoDB. Which AWS service should the developer use to perform these aggregations efficiently without reading all the data into Lambda?
Question 6
A developer has an Amazon S3 bucket containing private user documents. The application must generate a time-limited URL for users to download their own documents without requiring the users to have AWS credentials. Which solution should the developer use?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this DVA-C02 question test?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Retrieve the secret from Secrets Manager once outside the handler function, cache it in a global variable, and refresh the cache if the secret fails. — The best practice is to retrieve the secret from Secrets Manager once and cache it in the Lambda execution context. This minimizes API calls and reduces latency. The Lambda function should also handle secret rotation by refreshing the cache when an error occurs (e.g., secret version mismatch). Secrets Manager supports automatic rotation, and caching improves performance and cost.
What should I do if I get this DVA-C02 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
Discussion
Loading comments…
Sign in to join the discussion.