DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A data engineer is designing a data ingestion pipeline for IoT sensor data. The sensors send JSON messages every second. The data must be available in Amazon S3 within 5 minutes and must be transformed (JSON to Parquet) before storage. Which combination of services meets these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
DEA-C01 often tests whether candidates know that Firehose has native Parquet conversion and Lambda transformation, versus assuming you must bolt on Glue or Lambda separately — leading them to pick the more complex option A.
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
✓
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose with data transformation and Parquet conversion
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose natively supports AWS Lambda-based record transformation and can convert the transformed JSON records to Parquet using its built-in format conversion before delivering to S3. Firehose buffers data and delivers within its configurable buffer interval (as low as 60 seconds), comfortably meeting the 5-minute SLA. This is the only option that combines ingestion, transformation, and Parquet conversion in a single managed service.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon Kinesis Data Streams with AWS Glue streaming ETL
Why it's wrong here
Glue streaming ETL consumes from Kinesis and writes Parquet to S3, but its micro-batch interval and job startup latency make the five-minute availability window unreliable for per-second sensor messages. It suits near-real-time enrichment rather than tight ingestion deadlines.
- ✓
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose with data transformation and Parquet conversion
Why this is correct
Firehose buffers records and invokes a Lambda function for JSON-to-Parquet transformation before delivering to S3, meeting the five-minute latency requirement without managing clusters. Its native record format conversion writes Parquet directly, unlike Kinesis Data Streams, which only stores raw bytes.
- ✗
Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics with output to S3
Why it's wrong here
Kinesis Data Analytics runs SQL or Flink over streaming data for real-time analytics, and its S3 output is not a managed JSON-to-Parquet conversion path. It fits continuous querying and aggregation, not schema-converting ingestion within a five-minute window.
- ✗
Amazon S3 with S3 Event Notifications to AWS Lambda for transformation
Why it's wrong here
S3 Event Notifications fire only after objects land in S3, so raw JSON would be stored before Lambda converts it to Parquet, violating the transform-before-storage requirement. This pattern suits post-landing processing, not ingestion pipelines needing pre-storage transformation.
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 and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
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.