DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A data engineer is designing a data ingestion pipeline for real-time user activity logs. The logs are generated by a web application and must be ingested into Amazon S3 with minimal latency (under 1 minute). The logs also need to be queried in Amazon Athena. The engineer considers using Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose. Which TWO configurations are required to achieve near-real-time delivery to S3? (Choose TWO.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse features that improve query performance or monitoring (compression, Parquet conversion, CloudWatch logging) with features that directly control delivery latency, leading them to select those options instead of the buffer configuration parameters.
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
✓
Set the BufferIntervalInSeconds to 60 seconds.
Setting BufferIntervalInSeconds to 60 seconds forces Kinesis Data Firehose to deliver data to S3 every 60 seconds, meeting the sub-1-minute latency requirement. Option E is correct because setting BufferSizeInMBs to 1 MB ensures that the buffer fills quickly and triggers delivery when the buffer reaches 1 MB, which, combined with the time-based trigger, minimizes latency.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Set the BufferIntervalInSeconds to 60 seconds.
Why this is correct
Controls how often data is delivered.
- ✗
Enable S3 compression (e.g., GZIP) on the delivery stream.
Why it's wrong here
Compression does not affect frequency.
- ✗
Enable Amazon CloudWatch error logging for the delivery stream.
Why it's wrong here
Logging does not reduce latency.
- ✗
Enable data format conversion to Parquet using AWS Glue.
Why it's wrong here
Conversion is a transformation, not delivery trigger.
- ✓
Set the BufferSizeInMBs to 1 MB.
Why this is correct
Small buffer size triggers early delivery.
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.