AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Practice Exam

How can the Big Data team improve ETL query performance impacting user experience?

1. Create a new RDS instance for batch processing

2. Implement caching for ETL results in-memory

3. Create an RDS Read Replica for the ETL team

4. Increase the RDS instance size

The correct answer is: Create an RDS Read Replica for the ETL team

Creating an RDS Read Replica for the ETL team is a strategic approach to improving ETL query performance. Read replicas allow for offloading read queries from the primary database instance, which can enhance performance during ETL processes by reducing the load on the primary instance. This means that while the primary database handles updates and transactional workloads, the read replica can efficiently manage the read requests generated by the ETL process, thus optimizing data retrieval speeds. This setup benefits user experience, especially during high-demand periods, because it ensures that data read operations do not compete for resources with write operations. By segregating the workload, the ETL queries can run faster and with less impact on end-users who may require access to the same data concurrently. Implementing caching for ETL results in-memory can speed up access to frequently queried data, but it does not address underlying database query performance directly. Creating a new RDS instance for batch processing may introduce overhead and complexity instead of improving performance. Increasing the RDS instance size can enhance performance but may not necessarily target the specific issue of query load and responsiveness experienced during ETL processes. Therefore, utilizing a Read Replica specifically addresses the need for improved query performance in an efficient manner.