DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
A company uses Amazon Redshift for data warehousing. They notice that queries are running slowly, and the STL_LOAD_ERRORS table shows many 'Parse error' entries. The data is loaded from Amazon S3 using COPY commands. What is the MOST likely cause of the parse errors?
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 source data files have a different schema or delimiter than what is specified in the COPY command.
Parse errors during COPY typically indicate that the source data does not match the target table schema (e.g., data type mismatch or delimiter issues). Option B is incorrect because insufficient compute nodes would cause performance degradation, not parse errors. Option C is incorrect because IAM permission issues would cause access denied errors, not parse errors. Option D is incorrect because unsupported compression formats would cause decompression errors, not parse errors.
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 source data files have a different schema or delimiter than what is specified in the COPY command.
Why this is correct
Schema mismatch leads to parse errors.
- ✗
The Redshift cluster does not have enough compute nodes to process the data.
Why it's wrong here
Resource insufficiency leads to slow performance, not parse errors.
- ✗
The IAM role used by Redshift does not have permission to decrypt the S3 objects.
Why it's wrong here
Permission issues cause access errors, not parse errors.
- ✗
The source data files are compressed using an unsupported compression format.
Why it's wrong here
Unsupported compression would cause decompression errors, not parse errors.
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
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 1,711 original DEA-C01 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.