- A
Enable Lambda function's DLQ and set the retry attempts to 3.
Why wrong: Lambda DLQ is for async invocations, not SQS-triggered.
- B
Configure the Lambda function's reserved concurrency to 0 and set the DLQ on the function.
Why wrong: Reserved concurrency 0 stops invocations.
- C
Configure the SQS queue with a redrive policy and a dead-letter queue. Set the maxReceiveCount to 3.
SQS handles retries via visibility timeout and moves to DLQ after 3 receives.
- D
Use an Amazon SNS topic to send failed messages to a DLQ after three Lambda invocations.
Why wrong: SNS doesn't provide retry logic.
Question 878 of 1,616
Configuring SQS Redrive Policy with DLQ
This DVA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of development with aws services. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 company has an AWS Lambda function that processes messages from an Amazon SQS queue. The function sometimes fails due to transient errors. The developer wants to ensure that failed messages are retried automatically and then sent to a dead-letter queue after three failed attempts. How should the developer configure this?
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
✓
Configure the SQS queue with a redrive policy and a dead-letter queue. Set the maxReceiveCount to 3.
Option C is correct because Amazon SQS supports a redrive policy that automatically moves messages to a dead-letter queue (DLQ) after a specified number of receive attempts. By setting maxReceiveCount to 3, the SQS queue will retry delivering the message to the Lambda function up to three times (including the initial attempt). After three failed processing attempts, the message is automatically sent to the configured DLQ. This approach decouples retry logic from the Lambda function itself and leverages SQS's built-in reliability features.
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.
- ✗
Enable Lambda function's DLQ and set the retry attempts to 3.
Why it's wrong here
Lambda DLQ is for async invocations, not SQS-triggered.
- ✗
Configure the Lambda function's reserved concurrency to 0 and set the DLQ on the function.
Why it's wrong here
Reserved concurrency 0 stops invocations.
- ✓
Configure the SQS queue with a redrive policy and a dead-letter queue. Set the maxReceiveCount to 3.
Why this is correct
SQS handles retries via visibility timeout and moves to DLQ after 3 receives.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use an Amazon SNS topic to send failed messages to a DLQ after three Lambda invocations.
Why it's wrong here
SNS doesn't provide retry logic.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Lambda's asynchronous invocation DLQ (for events like S3 or SNS) with the SQS redrive policy, mistakenly thinking they can configure retries and DLQ on the Lambda function itself rather than on the SQS queue.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, when an SQS queue is configured as an event source for Lambda, the Lambda service polls the queue and processes messages. The redrive policy's maxReceiveCount tracks how many times a message has been received (including by the Lambda poller), not just successful invocations. If the Lambda function returns an error or times out, the message becomes visible again after the visibility timeout, and the receive count increments. After exceeding maxReceiveCount, SQS moves the message to the DLQ. A subtle behavior is that partial batch failures (where some messages succeed and others fail) can be handled by reporting batch item failures, but the redrive policy still applies per message based on receive count.
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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
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 |
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this DVA-C02 question test?
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: Configure the SQS queue with a redrive policy and a dead-letter queue. Set the maxReceiveCount to 3. — Option C is correct because Amazon SQS supports a redrive policy that automatically moves messages to a dead-letter queue (DLQ) after a specified number of receive attempts. By setting maxReceiveCount to 3, the SQS queue will retry delivering the message to the Lambda function up to three times (including the initial attempt). After three failed processing attempts, the message is automatically sent to the configured DLQ. This approach decouples retry logic from the Lambda function itself and leverages SQS's built-in reliability features.
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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more ways this is tested on DVA-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company is using Amazon SQS to decouple microservices. The producer sends messages, and the consumer processes them. The consumer occasionally fails to process a message due to transient errors. What is the BEST way to ensure such messages are retried automatically?
easy- A.Use a delay queue to postpone message processing.
- ✓ B.Configure a dead-letter queue with a redrive policy on the source queue.
- C.Use a FIFO queue with content-based deduplication.
- D.Increase the visibility timeout to give the consumer more time.
Why B: Option B is correct because configuring a dead-letter queue (DLQ) with a redrive policy on the source queue allows messages that fail processing to be automatically moved to the DLQ after the configured number of receive attempts (maxReceiveCount) is exceeded. The consumer can then reprocess these messages from the DLQ, or the DLQ can be configured to redrive messages back to the source queue after the transient error is resolved, ensuring automatic retries without manual intervention.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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.
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