The answer is to enable Amazon RDS Performance Insights to identify the most resource-intensive queries. This is the correct first step because when troubleshooting RDS high CPU and slow queries, you must diagnose the root cause before applying any fix; Performance Insights provides a real-time dashboard that pinpoints specific SQL statements consuming the most database resources, allowing you to target the bottleneck without rewriting the application. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of the observability-first principle—the exam frequently includes traps where candidates jump to scaling vertically or adding read replicas, but the correct approach is always to gather metrics first. A common memory tip is “measure before you move”: never resize or replicate until you know what’s actually causing the CPU spike.
SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of accelerate workload migration and modernization. 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 is modernizing a legacy Java application to run on AWS. The application currently uses a monolithic architecture with a shared MySQL database. The company wants to adopt a microservices architecture using containers and wants to decouple the database. The solutions architect proposes using Amazon ECS with Fargate for compute and Amazon RDS for MySQL for the database. However, during the transition, the performance team notices that the database CPU utilization is consistently above 80% during peak hours. The application logs show many slow queries. The team suspects that the database is the bottleneck. The company wants to improve performance without rewriting the application. Which action should the solutions architect take first?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "first"
Why it matters: Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Enable Amazon RDS Performance Insights to identify the most resource-intensive queries.
Before making architectural changes, it's important to analyze the slow queries to identify root causes. Enabling RDS Performance Insights provides detailed query performance metrics. Option A is wrong because DynamoDB would require code changes. Option C is wrong because read replicas help with read traffic but not write-heavy or complex queries. Option D is wrong because scaling vertically may help but is not the first step; understanding the issue is better.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
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 Amazon RDS Performance Insights to identify the most resource-intensive queries.
Why this is correct
First step: diagnose the problem.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "first" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
✗
Add an RDS read replica and direct read traffic to it.
Why it's wrong here
Helps if read-heavy, but may not address slow queries.
✗
Scale up the RDS instance to a larger instance type.
Why it's wrong here
May be necessary but not first step; need to analyze first.
✗
Migrate the database to Amazon DynamoDB to eliminate relational bottlenecks.
Why it's wrong here
Requires application rewrite, not minimal change.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
→Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
→Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
→Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related SAP-C02 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization — This question tests Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Enable Amazon RDS Performance Insights to identify the most resource-intensive queries. — Before making architectural changes, it's important to analyze the slow queries to identify root causes. Enabling RDS Performance Insights provides detailed query performance metrics. Option A is wrong because DynamoDB would require code changes. Option C is wrong because read replicas help with read traffic but not write-heavy or complex queries. Option D is wrong because scaling vertically may help but is not the first step; understanding the issue is better.
What should I do if I get this SAP-C02 question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related SAP-C02 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "first". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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