DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A company needs to ingest data from a relational database into Amazon S3 for analytics. The database is an Amazon RDS MySQL instance. Which AWS service should be used for a one-time historical data load?
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
✓
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) is the correct choice for a one-time historical data load from Amazon RDS MySQL to Amazon S3. DMS supports full-load migrations from relational databases to S3, making it ideal for this use case. AWS Glue ETL can also perform similar tasks but is more suited for complex transformations and scheduled jobs, and DMS is the dedicated service for database migrations. Amazon Athena is a query service, not an ingestion tool. Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose is designed for streaming data, not one-time loads.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
Why this is correct
DMS supports full load from RDS to S3.
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AWS Glue ETL
Why it's wrong here
AWS Glue ETL is designed for ongoing, scheduled, or event-driven extract-transform-load jobs, not for a one-time bulk transfer from a relational database. The scenario requires a single historical load, which AWS Glue’s job scheduler and transformation engine are unnecessary overhead; the correct service, AWS Database Migration Service (DMS), performs a one-time full load without requiring Spark-based ETL infrastructure. Glue ETL is tempting because it can connect to JDBC sources like MySQL and write to S3, and it would be the correct choice if the requirement involved repeated incremental loads or complex data transformations during ingestion.
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Amazon Athena
Why it's wrong here
Athena queries data already in S3.
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Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose
Why it's wrong here
Firehose is for streaming, not pulling from a database.
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.