DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A company uses Amazon Kinesis Data Streams with a shard count of 10 to ingest clickstream data. The data is consumed by a Lambda function that transforms the records and writes to Amazon S3. Recently, the Lambda function started failing with 'ProvisionedThroughputExceededException' errors. The average record size is 5 KB, and the incoming data rate is 15 MB/s. What is the most likely cause and solution?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates may focus on Lambda-side fixes (batch size, memory, concurrency) instead of recognizing that the error originates from the Kinesis stream's throughput capacity, which must be scaled horizontally by increasing shards.
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
✓
Increase the number of shards in the Kinesis data stream to 15.
The ProvisionedThroughputExceededException indicates that the total write throughput to the Kinesis stream is exceeding the provisioned capacity. With 10 shards, the maximum write throughput is 10 MB/s (1 MB/s per shard). The incoming data rate is 15 MB/s, which exceeds this limit, causing the error. Increasing the shard count to 15 raises the write throughput to 15 MB/s, matching the incoming rate and resolving the issue.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Increase the number of shards in the Kinesis data stream to 15.
Why this is correct
Each shard provides 1 MB/s write capacity; 15 shards would support 15 MB/s.
- ✗
Decrease the batch size of the Lambda event source mapping.
Why it's wrong here
Batch size affects processing, not write throughput.
- ✗
Increase the Lambda function's memory allocation to 3008 MB.
Why it's wrong here
Memory allocation does not impact Kinesis throughput.
- ✗
Increase the Lambda function's reserved concurrency.
Why it's wrong here
Lambda concurrency does not affect Kinesis write capacity.
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 |
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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.