hardMultiple Choice
CV0-004 Practice Question: Is deploying a multi-tier application in the cloud
An organization is deploying a multi-tier application in the cloud. The web tier uses auto scaling, and the database tier uses a managed database service. During a load test, the web tier scales up correctly, but the database performance degrades significantly, causing timeout errors. The administrator reviews the database metrics and finds that CPU and memory are normal, but the number of connections is high. Which of the following is the BEST action to resolve the issue?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse high connection count with high CPU/memory load and choose to scale the database vertically (Option C), when the real issue is connection exhaustion that is solved by 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 connection pooling on the web servers to limit database connections.
The issue is that the database is overwhelmed by a high number of connections, not by CPU or memory pressure. Connection pooling on the web servers reuses a fixed set of database connections, reducing the connection overhead and preventing the database from hitting its maximum connection limit. This directly addresses the symptom of high connection count without changing the database's compute capacity or the web tier's scaling behavior.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Add read replicas to offload read traffic from the primary database.
Why it's wrong here
Read replicas offload read queries, but the bottleneck is connection count, not read volume; replicas do not reduce connections to the primary for writes. It is tempting because replicas are the standard remedy for read-heavy database load, which would be correct if CPU or read throughput were saturated.
- ✗
Increase the maximum number of web servers in the auto scaling group.
Why it's wrong here
Adding web servers increases concurrent connections to the database, worsening the connection exhaustion rather than relieving it. It is tempting because the web tier scaled successfully, suggesting further scaling, but the metric shows the database tier is the constraint, so scaling the caller compounds the problem.
- ✗
Increase the compute size of the database instance.
Why it's wrong here
CPU and memory are already normal, so a larger instance adds capacity the database is not consuming; connection limits scale with instance class only indirectly. It is tempting because vertical scaling is the usual fix for database degradation, which would be correct if CPU or memory were saturated.
- ✓
Implement connection pooling on the web servers to limit database connections.
Why this is correct
Database CPU and memory are normal while connection count is high, so the bottleneck is connection overhead, not compute. Connection pooling on the web servers caps and reuses database connections, directly reducing the connection count that causes the timeouts.
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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.