DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
A company runs a daily batch processing job on Amazon EMR that reads data from Amazon S3 and writes results back to S3. The job takes longer than expected. The engineer wants to monitor the job's resource utilization. Which AWS service should be used to collect and visualize metrics such as CPU and memory usage of the EMR cluster's nodes?
⚠ Common exam trap
DEA-C01 often tests the misconception that EMR automatically sends memory metrics to CloudWatch, when in fact the CloudWatch Agent must be installed to collect memory and disk metrics.
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
✓
Amazon CloudWatch with the CloudWatch Agent installed on the EMR nodes.
Amazon CloudWatch is the AWS service for monitoring and visualizing metrics. While EMR automatically sends some metrics (like CPU utilization) to CloudWatch, memory usage is not a default metric. To collect memory metrics (and other OS-level metrics) from EMR nodes, the CloudWatch Agent must be installed on each node. This agent collects the desired metrics and publishes them to CloudWatch, where they can be graphed and alarmed. Thus, CloudWatch with the CloudWatch Agent is the correct solution for monitoring CPU and memory usage of EMR cluster nodes.
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 Config to record configuration changes in the EMR cluster.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config records resource configuration changes and evaluates compliance; it does not capture CPU or memory utilisation metrics. It is tempting because EMR clusters are configurable resources whose changes Config tracks, and it would be correct when auditing whether an EMR cluster's instance types or security settings drifted.
- ✗
Amazon Athena to query EMR job logs stored in S3.
Why it's wrong here
Athena queries log data sitting in S3; it cannot collect CPU or memory metrics from EMR nodes, which CloudWatch publishes. It is tempting because EMR does write logs to S3, and Athena would be the right choice when investigating job failures by searching those log files with SQL.
- ✓
Amazon CloudWatch with the CloudWatch Agent installed on the EMR nodes.
Why this is correct
CloudWatch alone reports EMR node metrics but not memory, which the hypervisor does not expose. Installing the CloudWatch Agent on the nodes publishes memory and disk utilisation as custom metrics, enabling the CPU and memory visualisation the engineer requires.
- ✗
AWS CloudTrail to log API calls made by the EMR job.
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail logs API activity, recording who called which EMR or S3 action, not node resource utilisation. It is tempting because it does provide an audit trail of the job's AWS calls, and would be correct when investigating which principal launched or modified the cluster.
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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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
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.