SAA-C03 Design High-Performing Architectures Practice Question
A development team is building a new application that stores session state in a relational database. The application experiences unpredictable read traffic, and the team wants a fully managed database that can scale read capacity automatically and provide a reader endpoint that distributes connections across multiple replicas. Which AWS service should a solutions architect recommend?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming a Multi-AZ standby in RDS can absorb read traffic, when it exists only for failover and does not serve application reads.
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
✓
Amazon Aurora with Aurora Replicas and the reader endpoint.
Aurora is a managed relational database whose Aurora Replicas serve read traffic, and the cluster reader endpoint spreads incoming read connections across those replicas automatically. That directly matches the need for automatic read scaling with a reader endpoint. DynamoDB is non-relational, RDS Multi-AZ standbys do not serve reads, and Redshift is an analytics warehouse rather than an OLTP database.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Amazon Aurora with Aurora Replicas and the reader endpoint.
Why this is correct
Aurora is a fully managed relational database compatible with MySQL and PostgreSQL, and Aurora Replicas can be added and scaled to handle read traffic. The cluster reader endpoint automatically distributes connections across the available Aurora Replicas, which is exactly the behavior described. It provides automatic storage scaling and managed replication, making it the correct relational, read-scalable choice for this scenario.
- ✗
Amazon Redshift with concurrency scaling enabled.
Why it's wrong here
Redshift is a data warehouse optimized for analytical queries over large datasets, not a transactional relational database for application session state. Concurrency scaling adds transient compute for read queries, but it is designed for analytics workloads and does not provide a reader endpoint for OLTP read replicas. Using Redshift for session state would be inappropriate and costly.
- ✗
Amazon DynamoDB with on-demand capacity mode.
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB is a NoSQL key-value and document database, not a relational database, so it does not meet the requirement for a relational engine. It scales reads well and is fully managed, but the scenario specifically calls for a relational database with a reader endpoint that load-balances across replicas. DynamoDB has no such reader endpoint concept, making it the wrong fit despite its scalability.
- ✗
Amazon RDS for SQL Server with Multi-AZ deployment.
Why it's wrong here
RDS for SQL Server is relational and fully managed, but Multi-AZ is a high-availability configuration that maintains a standby for failover rather than serving read traffic. There is no reader endpoint that balances connections across multiple readable replicas in the way Aurora does. It therefore does not satisfy the automatic read scaling and reader endpoint requirement described.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
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