AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Practice Exam

What is a potential consequence of changing inbound rules on a DB Security Group?

1. Improved database performance

2. Dropped connections from certain IPs

3. Increased costs due to more connections

4. Reduced latency for database requests

The correct answer is: Dropped connections from certain IPs

Changing inbound rules on a DB Security Group directly impacts which IP addresses or CIDR blocks are permitted to establish connections to the database. If you were to modify these rules by removing an IP that was previously allowed, connections from that specific IP would be dropped, leading to potential outages or connectivity issues for applications or users relying on that database access. The rules within a DB Security Group function like a firewall, controlling incoming and outgoing traffic based on the defined criteria. When you restrict access by changing the inbound rules, it's essential to ensure that the permitted sources still align with your operational requirements. Failure to do so can result in legitimate requests being blocked, which could severely disrupt service availability or functionality. Other potential choices, such as improved database performance or reduced latency, do not directly correlate with the action of changing security group rules. These factors are more closely related to the architecture, infrastructure, and optimization of the database itself, rather than the permissions set in the security group.