DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A company is using Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose to deliver streaming data to Amazon S3. The data must be transformed from JSON to Parquet format before landing in S3. The transformation logic is simple: convert the JSON schema to Parquet. Which approach meets the requirements with the least operational overhead?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often overcomplicate the solution by choosing Lambda or EMR, not realizing that Firehose's built-in format conversion with Glue Data Catalog is the simplest, fully managed option for JSON-to-Parquet conversion without any custom code.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use the built-in data format conversion feature of Firehose with an AWS Glue Data Catalog table
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose provides a built-in data format conversion feature that can automatically convert incoming JSON data to Parquet format using an AWS Glue Data Catalog table as the schema reference. This approach requires no custom code, no additional infrastructure, and no manual transformation logic, making it the simplest solution with the least operational overhead for a straightforward JSON-to-Parquet conversion.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use the built-in data format conversion feature of Firehose with an AWS Glue Data Catalog table
Why this is correct
Firehose can convert to Parquet automatically.
- ✗
Use an AWS Lambda function to transform records to Parquet before sending to Firehose
Why it's wrong here
Adds complexity and cost for Lambda execution.
- ✗
Use Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics to convert the stream to Parquet
Why it's wrong here
Unnecessarily complex for simple format conversion.
- ✗
Provision an Amazon EMR cluster to convert the data in micro-batches
Why it's wrong here
High operational overhead and not real-time.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
Related to this question
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on DEA-C01
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 company is using Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose to deliver streaming data to an Amazon S3 bucket. The data is delivered in JSON format. The company wants to convert the data to Apache Parquet format before delivery to reduce storage costs and improve query performance. How can this be achieved?
medium- A.Deliver data to S3 as JSON, then use Amazon Athena to convert to Parquet.
- ✓ B.Use the AWS Glue Data Catalog to define a schema and configure Firehose to use it for Parquet conversion.
- C.Write an AWS Lambda function to transform the data to Parquet and deliver it to S3.
- D.Configure the Firehose stream to convert data to Parquet automatically without any additional setup.
Why B: Kinesis Data Firehose can convert the input data to Parquet or ORC format using a schema from the AWS Glue Data Catalog. Option A is incorrect because delivering as JSON then converting with Athena is an extra step after storage, not before delivery, and does not reduce storage costs from the outset. Option C is incorrect because Lambda can be used for custom transformations, but Firehose natively supports Parquet conversion using Glue. Option D is incorrect because Firehose cannot convert to Parquet automatically without a schema; you must provide a schema (e.g., from Glue).
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.