DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A company uses Amazon Redshift for analytics. A data engineer notices that queries are slow due to high disk usage on the compute nodes. The engineer needs to reclaim disk space without interrupting ongoing queries. Which action should the engineer take?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse VACUUM FULL with VACUUM DELETE, assuming any VACUUM operation reclaims space without considering the lock requirement and interruption to queries.
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
✓
Run VACUUM DELETE to reclaim space from deleted rows
VACUUM DELETE specifically reclaims disk space from deleted rows without requiring an exclusive table lock, allowing ongoing queries to continue. In Amazon Redshift, deleted rows consume disk space until reclaimed, and VACUUM DELETE operates in the background to free that space while maintaining query concurrency.
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 the COPY command to reload data
Why it's wrong here
COPY is for loading data, not reclaiming space.
- ✗
Run VACUUM FULL on all tables
Why it's wrong here
VACUUM FULL locks tables and may interrupt queries.
- ✓
Run VACUUM DELETE to reclaim space from deleted rows
Why this is correct
VACUUM DELETE reclaims space without exclusive locks and can run concurrently.
- ✗
Resize the cluster to a larger instance type
Why it's wrong here
Resizing is disruptive and does not reclain space; it adds capacity.
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JA
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.