DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A company needs to ingest data from an on-premises Oracle database into Amazon S3 on a daily basis. The data volume is about 100 GB per day. Which AWS service is BEST suited for this task?
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 AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) to replicate data to S3.
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) can continuously replicate data from Oracle to S3, and it supports full load and change data capture (CDC). Option A (AWS DataSync) is for file-based transfers, not database replication. Option B (Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose) is for streaming data, not database pull. Option D (AWS Glue) is for ETL but does not natively support continuous CDC from Oracle.
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 AWS DataSync to copy the database files to S3.
Why it's wrong here
DataSync copies filesystem objects, not live Oracle datafiles; copying open database files yields inconsistent, unusable backups. It is tempting because DataSync is the managed service for scheduled bulk transfer into S3, which is correct for file shares or NFS/SMB sources, not database extraction.
- ✗
Use Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose with a database connector.
Why it's wrong here
Firehose ingests streaming records via HTTP endpoints or Kinesis agents, not scheduled bulk extracts from Oracle; its database connector only reads CDC streams from RDS. It is tempting for continuous, near-real-time delivery into S3, which suits streaming sources rather than a daily 100 GB batch pull.
- ✓
Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) to replicate data to S3.
Why this is correct
AWS DMS performs continuous change data capture from Oracle and writes directly to Amazon S3, handling the 100 GB daily volume without custom extraction code. Its native S3 target endpoint satisfies the daily ingestion requirement, unlike batch-only tools that lack Oracle CDC support.
- ✗
Use AWS Glue to extract data from Oracle and write to S3.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Glue jobs run on Spark within AWS and need network reachability to the on-premises Oracle instance, typically via VPN or Direct Connect plus a JDBC connection; without that path the extract fails. It is tempting because Glue performs managed ETL and writes directly to S3 for cloud-resident sources.
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.