DEA-C01 ResourceNotFoundException Practice Question
A company uses Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics for Apache Flink to process streaming data. The application reads from a Kinesis data stream and writes results to an Amazon S3 bucket. Recently, the application has been failing with 'ResourceNotFoundException' for the S3 bucket. What is the MOST likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse permission errors with resource-not-found errors. A missing IAM permission typically results in 'AccessDenied', not 'ResourceNotFoundException'.
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
✓
The S3 bucket ARN is incorrectly specified in the application configuration.
The 'ResourceNotFoundException' for the S3 bucket indicates that the application cannot find the bucket. This is most likely due to an incorrectly specified bucket name or ARN in the application configuration. If the bucket name is misspelled or the ARN is malformed, the Kinesis Data Analytics application cannot resolve the bucket resource. Option A is incorrect because missing 's3:PutObject' permission would cause an 'AccessDenied' error, not 'ResourceNotFoundException'. Option C is incorrect because the AWS Region for S3 is determined by the bucket's location, and specifying a wrong region in Flink code would typically result in a different error (e.g., 'IllegalArgumentException' or cross-region access issues) but not 'ResourceNotFoundException'. Option D is incorrect because versioning is unrelated to bucket existence; disabling versioning does not cause a resource not found error.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The IAM role used by the application does not have s3:PutObject permission.
Why it's wrong here
Missing s3:PutObject permission returns AccessDenied, not ResourceNotFoundException, because the bucket exists and the request is rejected after authorisation. This is tempting since IAM policies are a common failure source, but the error specifically indicates the named bucket cannot be located.
- ✓
The S3 bucket ARN is incorrectly specified in the application configuration.
Why this is correct
A malformed or incorrect S3 bucket ARN in the application configuration causes the Flink application's S3 sink to fail resolving the target bucket, producing ResourceNotFoundException. Correcting the ARN restores access without changing IAM or network settings.
- ✗
The Flink application code specifies the wrong AWS Region for the S3 bucket.
Why it's wrong here
A wrong Region in application code would surface as an authorisation or endpoint error, not ResourceNotFoundException for an existing bucket; Flink resolves S3 paths through the configured Region. This cause is tempting when the bucket and stream sit in different Regions, but that mismatch alone does not produce this error.
- ✗
The S3 bucket has versioning disabled.
Why it's wrong here
Versioning status does not affect read or write authorisation, so it cannot produce ResourceNotFoundException. It is tempting because versioning is a common S3 bucket setting, and it would matter when recovering overwritten or deleted objects, but the error here points to a missing bucket, Region mismatch, or revoked IAM permissions.
Visual reference
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.