SAA-C03 Design High-Performing Architectures Practice Question
An application uses an Amazon Aurora cluster. The workload becomes read-heavy, but the team cannot change the database schema. They need higher read throughput while keeping writes on the primary. What should they do?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse Aurora read replicas with RDS read replicas, which have different replication mechanics and lag characteristics, or they may think that switching to a single-AZ configuration improves performance by reducing overhead, when in fact it only reduces availability.
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
✓
Create Aurora read replicas and use the reader endpoint for read traffic
Aurora read replicas are designed to offload read traffic from the primary instance, and the reader endpoint automatically load-balances connections across all replicas. Since the workload is read-heavy and the schema cannot change, adding read replicas directly increases read throughput without modifying the application's database schema. The reader endpoint ensures that read queries are directed to the replicas while writes continue to hit the primary instance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create Aurora read replicas and use the reader endpoint for read traffic
Why this is correct
Aurora read replicas are purpose-built to offload read traffic by creating up to 15 additional compute instances that share the same underlying storage volume. The cluster's reader endpoint automatically load-balances connections across these replicas, so read queries do not compete with the writer instance for CPU, memory, or I/O capacity. Because this is a native Aurora feature, it requires no schema changes or application rewrites, and it preserves the durability and replication benefits of the multi-AZ cluster architecture.
- ✗
Switch the cluster to a single-AZ Aurora configuration to reduce coordination overhead
Why it's wrong here
Switching to a single-AZ Aurora configuration only reduces the number of availability zones the infrastructure runs in, which lowers resiliency and increases the risk of downtime, but it does not add any read-capable instances. Aurora's storage layer is already distributed across three AZs, so there is minimal 'coordination overhead' to remove by going single-AZ, and the actual bottleneck for high read workloads is insufficient read throughput—something only additional reader instances or stronger writer instance classes can address. This option trades away availability without solving the performance problem.
- ✗
Increase DynamoDB capacity units instead of modifying the database layer
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB capacity units (read and write capacity units in provisioned mode, or throughput settings in on-demand mode) apply exclusively to DynamoDB tables and have no effect on an Aurora cluster's query processing. Aurora and DynamoDB are completely separate database services with different engines (MySQL/PostgreSQL vs. NoSQL), storage architectures, and API contracts, so scaling DynamoDB does not influence Aurora's reader instances, buffer pool, or connection handling. Modifying DynamoDB capacity is unrelated to the Aurora workload described and would not increase the database layer's ability to serve read requests.
- ✗
Enable CloudFront caching for database queries to serve results from edge locations
Why it's wrong here
CloudFront can cache certain HTTP responses (for example, API responses) but it is not a direct Aurora performance mechanism. It does not increase Aurora’s database read capacity; any benefit would depend on application-level caching design and correct cache invalidation strategies.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SAA-C03 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 SAA-C03 exam.