DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A company wants to move data from an Amazon RDS for MySQL database to Amazon Redshift for analytics. The data needs to be refreshed daily. Which AWS service is best suited for this?
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
✓
AWS Glue
(AWS Glue) is correct because it is a fully managed ETL service that can connect to RDS for MySQL as a source and Amazon Redshift as a target, and it supports scheduling for daily refreshes. Option A (AWS DMS) is designed for database migration and continuous replication, not for scheduled batch loads. Option C (Amazon EMR) is for big data processing using Hadoop/Spark, which is overkill for this simple transfer. Option D (Amazon Athena) is an interactive query service for data in Amazon S3, not for moving data between databases.
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 Database Migration Service (DMS)
Why it's wrong here
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) is primarily engineered for one-time database migrations or continuous data replication (CDC) between operational databases, maintaining transactional consistency. While it can move data from RDS MySQL to Redshift, it lacks the robust ETL capabilities required for complex daily data transformations, aggregations, and loading patterns typical for analytical data warehousing. It is tempting because it directly addresses database movement and continuous synchronisation, making it the correct choice for migrating live databases or keeping two transactional systems in sync.
- ✓
AWS Glue
Why this is correct
Can extract from RDS and load to Redshift with scheduling.
- ✗
Amazon EMR
Why it's wrong here
Overkill for simple daily transfer.
- ✗
Amazon Athena
Why it's wrong here
Does not move data.
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.