DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
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?
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 AWS Glue Data Catalog to define a schema and configure Firehose to use it for Parquet conversion.
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).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Deliver data to S3 as JSON, then use Amazon Athena to convert to Parquet.
Why it's wrong here
This is possible using Athena's CTAS (CREATE TABLE AS SELECT) statements to convert JSON to Parquet, but it requires an additional ETL step and does not leverage Firehose's built-in conversion capabilities. Not the most efficient approach.
- ✓
Use the AWS Glue Data Catalog to define a schema and configure Firehose to use it for Parquet conversion.
Why this is correct
Correct. Kinesis Data Firehose can convert incoming data to Parquet or ORC using a schema from the AWS Glue Data Catalog. This is the recommended method.
- ✗
Write an AWS Lambda function to transform the data to Parquet and deliver it to S3.
Why it's wrong here
While possible, this introduces complexity and additional cost. Firehose natively supports Parquet conversion using Glue, making this unnecessary in most cases.
- ✗
Configure the Firehose stream to convert data to Parquet automatically without any additional setup.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Firehose does not automatically convert to Parquet without a schema. You must either provide a Glue schema or use a Lambda transformation.
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
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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.