The AWS Certified Database Specialty exam is one of the more demanding certifications in the AWS portfolio, and it rewards people who have genuinely worked with these services — not just read about them. As someone who has prepared for and passed this exam after real-world time with RDS, Aurora, and DynamoDB, I know where the preparation gaps tend to be and what the exam actually tests. Today, I will share it all with you.
Who This Exam Is For
AWS recommends at least five years of database experience (not just AWS) and two or more years with AWS database services before attempting this exam. That’s serious seniority — the exam expects you to know not just how AWS database services work but when to choose one over another and how to design for performance, availability, and cost at scale. If you’re brand new to databases or have only worked with one database type, build your foundation with hands-on experience and an Associate-level cert first.
What the Exam Covers
The DBS-C01 exam blueprint covers five domains.
Domain 1 — Workload-Specific Database Design is the most conceptual part. You need to know the characteristics, use cases, and appropriate workloads for Amazon RDS (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Oracle, SQL Server), Amazon Aurora (MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible, higher performance and HA), Amazon DynamoDB (key-value and document NoSQL), Amazon ElastiCache (Redis and Memcached), Amazon Neptune (graph), Amazon DocumentDB (MongoDB-compatible), Amazon Keyspaces (Cassandra-compatible), Amazon Timestream (time-series), Amazon MemoryDB for Redis, and Amazon Redshift (data warehouse, OLAP). Scenario questions presenting requirements and asking which service fits best are common throughout the exam.
Domain 2 — Deployment and Migration covers AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) for both homogeneous and heterogeneous migrations, AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT), cutover strategies, continuous data replication, and migration from on-premises to AWS. Understanding what DMS handles automatically versus what requires manual schema adjustment is testable knowledge. Probably should have drilled this domain harder before my first attempt — it comes up more than the domain weighting suggests.
Domain 3 — Management and Operations covers Multi-AZ deployments and failover behavior in RDS and Aurora, read replica creation and promotion, automated backups and point-in-time recovery, RDS Parameter Groups and Option Groups, Aurora Global Databases, DynamoDB capacity modes and Auto Scaling, and ElastiCache cluster management.
Domain 4 — Monitoring and Troubleshooting tests performance monitoring skills: CloudWatch metrics for each database service, RDS Performance Insights for query-level visibility, CloudWatch Logs, Enhanced Monitoring for OS-level metrics, DynamoDB troubleshooting (hot partitions, throttling, WCU/RCU consumption), and ElastiCache monitoring (cache hit/miss ratios, evictions).
Domain 5 — Database Security covers encryption at rest (KMS) and in transit (SSL/TLS), IAM authentication for RDS and DynamoDB, VPC deployment and security groups, Secrets Manager for credential rotation, AWS Backup, and DynamoDB fine-grained access control.
Key Topics That Frequently Appear
Aurora vs. RDS differences in failover time, replica behavior, and storage architecture are tested repeatedly. DynamoDB deep knowledge — partition key design, global secondary indexes vs. local secondary indexes, DynamoDB Streams, avoiding hot partitions — is heavily weighted. Cross-region replication options across services (RDS cross-region read replicas, Aurora Global Database, DynamoDB Global Tables) and their trade-offs come up consistently. Database selection by workload type (OLTP vs. OLAP, relational vs. NoSQL, time-series, graph, document, caching) is tested in scenario format throughout.
Study Resources
AWS Documentation is the primary source — read the core docs for RDS, Aurora, DynamoDB, ElastiCache, Redshift, and DMS at minimum. Adrian Cantrill’s Database Specialty course is particularly strong on conceptual depth. The Aurora design considerations whitepaper and the DynamoDB developer guide are essential reading for understanding how these services work internally, which is what scenario questions actually test. Tutorials Dojo practice exams closely approximate the real exam’s difficulty and question style.
Hands-on labs are not optional for this exam. Set up Aurora clusters, configure DMS migrations, practice DynamoDB data modeling, and implement ElastiCache with an application. Reading about these services is not sufficient — the exam distinguishes between people who have configured them and people who haven’t.
Exam Strategy
The DBS-C01 is 180 minutes with 65 questions. Many questions are long scenarios requiring careful reading and elimination before committing. For scenario questions, identify the core constraint (latency, availability, cost, consistency, throughput) before evaluating the options — the best answer typically satisfies the stated constraint with the least complexity. Passing score is 750/1000. Plan for 8–12 weeks of focused preparation if you’re starting from solid Associate-level knowledge and meaningful database experience.
If you work with AWS database services daily, this certification validates expertise you’re already building. If you don’t, be honest about whether the preparation investment will pay off versus spending that time on hands-on projects.
