The correct choice is to store the password in AWS Secrets Manager with automatic rotation enabled and configure AWS Glue to use SSL for the connection. This works because Secrets Manager natively supports automatic rotation of RDS credentials, ensuring the security team’s rotation requirement is met without manual intervention, while enabling SSL on the Glue connection encrypts the data in transit between Glue and RDS MySQL. On the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of combining credential management with encryption—a common trap is selecting Parameter Store (which lacks automatic rotation) or forgetting SSL for transport encryption. Remember the pairing: Secrets Manager handles rotation, SSL handles encryption. A useful memory tip is “Rotate with Secrets, Encrypt with SSL”—if you see a question about rotating RDS credentials for Glue, immediately think of these two services working together.
DEA-C01 Data Security and Governance Practice Question
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data security and governance. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company has an AWS Glue ETL job that reads from an RDS MySQL instance and writes to S3. The security team requires that the connection to RDS be encrypted and that credentials be rotated automatically. Which configuration should be used?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Store the password in AWS Secrets Manager with automatic rotation enabled and configure Glue to use SSL for the connection.
Option C is correct because Secrets Manager provides automatic rotation of RDS credentials, and Glue can use the secret. Option A does not rotate credentials. Option B does not provide encryption for the connection. Option D is not a service for storing credentials.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Store the database password in an encrypted parameter in Systems Manager Parameter Store and enable SSL for the connection.
Why it's wrong here
Parameter Store does not support automatic rotation natively.
✗
Use IAM database authentication for RDS and store credentials in Glue connection properties.
Why it's wrong here
IAM auth does not use a password, but Glue connection properties are not rotated.
✗
Store the password in a text file in an encrypted S3 bucket and use SSL.
Why it's wrong here
No automatic rotation.
✓
Store the password in AWS Secrets Manager with automatic rotation enabled and configure Glue to use SSL for the connection.
Why this is correct
Secrets Manager supports rotation and Glue can use SSL.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which DEA-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Data Security and Governance — This question tests Data Security and Governance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Store the password in AWS Secrets Manager with automatic rotation enabled and configure Glue to use SSL for the connection. — Option C is correct because Secrets Manager provides automatic rotation of RDS credentials, and Glue can use the secret. Option A does not rotate credentials. Option B does not provide encryption for the connection. Option D is not a service for storing credentials.
What should I do if I get this DEA-C01 question wrong?
Identify which DEA-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A data engineer needs to securely store database credentials used by an AWS Glue ETL job. Which THREE steps should the engineer take?
medium
A.Hardcode the credentials in the Glue job script.
✓ B.Store the credentials in AWS Secrets Manager.
✓ C.Grant the Glue job's IAM role permission to read the secret.
✓ D.Configure the Glue job to use the Secrets Manager connector to retrieve credentials.
E.Use AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store with a SecureString parameter.
Why B: Options A, B, and D are correct. AWS Secrets Manager securely stores credentials, and the Glue job can retrieve them via the AWS Secrets Manager connector or directly from the service. Option C is wrong because hardcoding credentials is insecure. Option E is wrong because Parameter Store does not support automatic rotation.
Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026
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This DEA-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services 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 DEA-C01 exam.
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