Quick Answer
The answer is Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose, AWS Glue, and Amazon S3. This combination forms a complete data lake ingestion architecture because Kinesis Data Firehose reliably loads streaming data and log files directly into S3, while AWS Glue provides both the schema evolution handling via its crawlers and a unified metadata catalog for all datasets, plus batch ETL capabilities. On the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam, this question tests your understanding of how to integrate ingestion services rather than query or storage-only tools—a common trap is choosing Amazon Athena for ingestion or DynamoDB for the data lake, but Athena is an ad-hoc query engine and DynamoDB is a NoSQL database, not an ingestion pipeline component. To remember the trio, think of the pipeline: Firehose for streaming in, Glue for cataloging and transforming, and S3 as the landing zone.
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data ingestion and transformation. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 is building a data lake on Amazon S3. The data sources include relational databases, streaming data, and log files. The data engineer needs to ensure that the data ingestion pipeline can handle schema evolution, support both batch and streaming, and provide a unified metadata catalog. Which THREE services should the engineer use? (Choose three.)
AWS Glue
Provides schema discovery, catalog, and batch ETL.
Amazon DynamoDB
Why wrong: DynamoDB is a NoSQL database, not for data lake ingestion.
Amazon Athena
Why wrong: Athena is for querying, not ingestion.
Amazon S3
Central storage for the data lake.
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose
Ingests streaming data into S3.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
AWS Glue
Options A, C, and D are correct. AWS Glue provides a metadata catalog and ETL for batch. Kinesis Data Firehose handles streaming ingestion to S3. S3 stores the data. Option B is wrong because Athena is a query service, not ingestion. Option E is wrong because DynamoDB is not used for data lake ingestion.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
AWS Glue
Why this is correct
Provides schema discovery, catalog, and batch ETL.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon DynamoDB
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB is a NoSQL database, not for data lake ingestion.
Amazon Athena
Why it's wrong here
Athena is for querying, not ingestion.
Amazon S3
Why this is correct
Central storage for the data lake.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose
Why this is correct
Ingests streaming data into S3.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
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
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.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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 Ingestion and Transformation — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Data Ingestion and Transformation — This question tests Data Ingestion and Transformation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS Glue — Options A, C, and D are correct. AWS Glue provides a metadata catalog and ETL for batch. Kinesis Data Firehose handles streaming ingestion to S3. S3 stores the data. Option B is wrong because Athena is a query service, not ingestion. Option E is wrong because DynamoDB is not used for data lake ingestion.
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.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026
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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