The answer is Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose with a transformation Lambda function. This is correct because Kinesis Data Firehose natively supports converting incoming data to Parquet format during delivery to Amazon S3, and you can attach a Lambda function to perform custom transformations—such as schema mapping or data enrichment—before the conversion, all without provisioning any servers. On the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of near-real-time, serverless data pipelines; a common trap is choosing Kinesis Data Analytics for its SQL capabilities, but that service is for streaming analytics, not direct S3 delivery in Parquet. Glue ETL is batch-oriented and EMR requires cluster management, both adding operational overhead. Remember the memory tip: “Firehose fires Parquet to S3 with Lambda in the middle”—if the question asks for minimal overhead and near-real-time Parquet output, Firehose plus Lambda is your go-to.
DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
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 ingesting streaming data from IoT devices into Amazon Kinesis Data Streams. The data must be transformed into Parquet format and stored in Amazon S3. Which AWS service can perform the transformation in near real-time with minimal operational overhead?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose with a transformation Lambda function
Option A is correct because Kinesis Data Firehose can transform data using Lambda functions and deliver to S3 in Parquet format with no servers to manage. Option B (Kinesis Data Analytics) is for SQL queries, not direct S3 delivery. Option C (Glue ETL) is batch-oriented. Option D (EMR) requires cluster management.
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.
✗
Amazon EMR cluster running Spark Streaming
Why it's wrong here
EMR requires cluster provisioning and management, adding operational overhead.
✗
AWS Glue ETL job triggered by Kinesis stream
Why it's wrong here
Glue ETL jobs are batch-oriented and typically run on a schedule, not near real-time.
✓
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose with a transformation Lambda function
Why this is correct
Kinesis Data Firehose can invoke a Lambda function to convert data to Parquet and deliver to S3.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics for Apache Flink
Why it's wrong here
Kinesis Data Analytics is for real-time analytics, not direct S3 delivery with Parquet conversion.
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 Ingestion and Transformation — This question tests Data Ingestion and Transformation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose with a transformation Lambda function — Option A is correct because Kinesis Data Firehose can transform data using Lambda functions and deliver to S3 in Parquet format with no servers to manage. Option B (Kinesis Data Analytics) is for SQL queries, not direct S3 delivery. Option C (Glue ETL) is batch-oriented. Option D (EMR) requires cluster management.
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.
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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.
Question Discussion
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