hardMultiple Choice
CV0-004 Practice Question: A company operates a multi-tier web application…
A company operates a multi-tier web application on AWS. The web tier runs on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. The application tier runs on EC2 instances that connect to an RDS MySQL database. Recently, users have reported slow page load times. The cloud administrator investigates and finds the following: CPU utilization on web and app tier instances is below 50%, memory usage is normal, but the RDS instance's CPU utilization is consistently above 80% and the number of database connections is at the maximum. The administrator also notices that the application code opens a new database connection for each HTTP request and does not close them properly. Which action should the administrator take to resolve the performance issue?
⚠ Common exam trap
CompTIA often tests the misconception that scaling resources (vertical scaling or increasing limits) is the primary fix for performance issues, when the real problem is inefficient resource usage like connection leaks that require architectural changes such as connection pooling.
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
✓
Implement a connection pooling mechanism in the application tier.
The performance issue is caused by the application opening a new database connection for each HTTP request and not closing them properly, which exhausts the maximum connections on RDS. Implementing a connection pooling mechanism in the application tier reuses existing connections, reduces connection overhead, and prevents connection exhaustion without requiring a larger instance or increasing the connection limit. This directly addresses the root cause—inefficient connection management—rather than treating symptoms like high CPU or connection limits.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Scale the RDS instance vertically to a larger instance class.
Why it's wrong here
A larger instance class raises RDS CPU and memory ceilings but leaves the connection leak untouched, so connections still exhaust and queries still queue. Vertical scaling is the right remedy when a workload is genuinely CPU- or memory-bound rather than capped by connection count.
- ✓
Implement a connection pooling mechanism in the application tier.
Why this is correct
The stem shows RDS CPU above 80% and connections at maximum, caused by the app opening a new connection per request without closing it. Connection pooling reuses a bounded set of persistent connections, cutting connection churn and RDS CPU load, directly relieving the saturated database tier.
- ✗
Increase the timeout for idle database connections.
Why it's wrong here
Extending idle timeouts keeps leaked connections open even longer, accelerating exhaustion of the connection limit. Timeout tuning is the correct fix when legitimate pooled connections are being reaped prematurely, not when the application never closes them at all.
- ✗
Increase the maximum number of database connections on RDS.
Why it's wrong here
Raising max_connections admits more leaked sessions, but each still consumes RDS CPU, so utilisation stays above 80% and latency persists. Increasing the connection ceiling suits workloads whose concurrency is legitimately high, not one leaking a connection per HTTP request.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CV0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 CV0-004 exam.