hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
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
Masks the problem; connection leak still exists and will eventually exhaust resources.
- ✓
Implement a connection pooling mechanism in the application tier.
Why this is correct
Reduces the number of concurrent connections and reuses them, lowering CPU load.
- ✗
Increase the timeout for idle database connections.
Why it's wrong here
Does not prevent connection leaks; connections may still be left open.
- ✗
Increase the maximum number of database connections on RDS.
Why it's wrong here
Would allow more connections but not fix the leak; could overload the database further.
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JA
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.