A developer is troubleshooting an AWS Lambda function that processes records from an Amazon Kinesis Data Stream. The function is configured with a batch size of 100 and a parallelization factor of 1. The developer notices that the iterator age is increasing, indicating that the function is not keeping up with the stream. CloudWatch Logs show that the function is not experiencing errors or throttling, but the execution time per invocation is close to the 5-minute timeout. The stream has 10 shards. Which action will most likely increase processing throughput?
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.
Distractor review
Increase the batch size to 500.
If the function is already close to timeout with a batch size of 100, increasing the batch size will likely cause it to timeout more often, worsening throughput.
Distractor review
Increase the parallelization factor to 10.
While this allows up to 100 concurrent invocations, each invocation still takes near 5 minutes. The total records processed per second may not increase significantly if each batch takes the same time.
Best answer
Increase the Lambda function memory and CPU allocation.
Increasing memory increases CPU allocation proportionally, which can make each invocation faster. This reduces the per-batch processing time, allowing the function to keep up with the stream and decrease the iterator age.
Distractor review
Split the stream into more shards.
Adding more shards increases the number of concurrent Lambda invocations, but each invocation still processes slowly. The throughput per shard remains low, so the overall throughput may not improve enough.
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: Increase the Lambda function memory and CPU allocation. — The function is slow per invocation, likely due to insufficient CPU or memory. Increasing Lambda memory proportionally increases CPU, which can reduce execution time and allow the function to process more records per second. While increasing the parallelization factor could help by processing multiple batches per shard concurrently, the fundamental bottleneck is the per-invocation processing time. Increasing memory addresses that bottleneck directly.
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.
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