Throttling for rate limiting in Django - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ component_behavior

intermediate

What happens when a user exceeds the throttle limit in Django REST Framework?

Consider a Django REST Framework API view with a throttle class set to limit requests to 5 per minute per user. What is the expected behavior when a user sends the 6th request within the same minute?

Django

from rest_framework.throttling import UserRateThrottle
from rest_framework.views import APIView
from rest_framework.response import Response

class FivePerMinuteThrottle(UserRateThrottle):
    rate = '5/minute'

class ExampleView(APIView):
    throttle_classes = [FivePerMinuteThrottle]

    def get(self, request):
        return Response({'message': 'Request successful'})

A The 6th request is accepted but logged for review later.

B The 6th request resets the throttle count and is accepted normally.

C The 6th request is blocked and the API returns a 429 Too Many Requests response.

D The 6th request causes a server error (500 Internal Server Error).

💡 Hint

Think about what HTTP status code is used when rate limits are exceeded.

When a user exceeds the throttle limit, Django REST Framework returns a 429 Too Many Requests response, blocking further requests until the throttle window resets.

📝 Syntax

intermediate

Identify the correct way to set a custom throttle rate in Django REST Framework

Which of the following code snippets correctly sets a throttle rate of 10 requests per hour for a custom throttle class?

A

class CustomThrottle(UserRateThrottle):
    rate = 10/hour

B

class CustomThrottle(UserRateThrottle):
    rate = '10/hour'

C

class CustomThrottle(UserRateThrottle):
    rate = 10 per hour

D

class CustomThrottle(UserRateThrottle):
    rate = '10 per hour'

💡 Hint

Remember the rate must be a string with a number and time unit separated by a slash.

The throttle rate must be a string like '10/hour'. Other formats cause syntax or runtime errors.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does the custom throttle class not limit requests as expected?

Given the following throttle class, users are not being limited to 3 requests per minute as intended. What is the cause?

Django

from rest_framework.throttling import UserRateThrottle

class ThreePerMinuteThrottle(UserRateThrottle):
    rate = '3/minute'

A The rate value should be a string, so rate = '3/minute' is required.

B The UserRateThrottle class does not support per-minute limits.

C The throttle class must override the allow_request method to work.

D The rate should be set in settings.py, not in the class.

💡 Hint

Check the data type of the rate attribute.

The rate attribute must be a string like '3/minute'. Using 3/minute without quotes causes a syntax error or unexpected behavior.

🧠 Conceptual

advanced

How does Django REST Framework differentiate users for throttling?

When using UserRateThrottle, how does Django REST Framework identify different users to apply rate limits?

A It uses the user’s authentication credentials from request.user to identify unique users.

B It uses the client IP address to identify users.

C It applies the same limit to all users without differentiation.

D It uses session cookies to track users.

💡 Hint

Think about how authentication works in Django REST Framework.

UserRateThrottle uses the authenticated user object (request.user) to apply rate limits per user. If the user is anonymous, it falls back to IP-based throttling.

❓ state_output

expert

What is the output of this Django REST Framework throttle configuration?

Given the following settings and code, what will be the response status code of the 4th request made by the same authenticated user within one minute?

Django

REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    'DEFAULT_THROTTLE_CLASSES': [
        'rest_framework.throttling.UserRateThrottle',
    ],
    'DEFAULT_THROTTLE_RATES': {
        'user': '3/minute'
    }
}

from rest_framework.views import APIView
from rest_framework.response import Response

class TestView(APIView):
    def get(self, request):
        return Response({'detail': 'Success'})

A 403 Forbidden

B 200 OK

C 500 Internal Server Error

D 429 Too Many Requests

💡 Hint

Check the throttle rate and how many requests are allowed per minute.

The throttle rate is 3 requests per minute per user. The 4th request exceeds this limit and returns a 429 status code.