DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A data engineer is designing a data store for real-time analytics on high-velocity clickstream data. The data must be stored in a schema-on-read format and support SQL queries with sub-second latency. Which service should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics (which processes streams but does not store data) with a storage solution, or they assume Amazon Redshift is suitable for real-time streaming without recognizing its schema-on-write requirement and higher latency for ad-hoc 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
✓
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose to S3 with Athena
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose can ingest high-velocity clickstream data and deliver it to Amazon S3, where it is stored in a schema-on-read format (e.g., Parquet or ORC). Amazon Athena then allows SQL queries directly on the data in S3 with sub-second latency when using partitions, columnar formats, and optimizations like AWS Glue Catalog. This combination meets the requirements for real-time analytics without predefining a schema.
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 Redshift
Why it's wrong here
Redshift is for structured data warehousing, not schema-on-read.
- ✓
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose to S3 with Athena
Why this is correct
Firehose streams data to S3, Athena queries with schema-on-read and partitioning for low latency.
- ✗
Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics
Why it's wrong here
Kinesis Data Analytics is for real-time analytics on streams, not ad-hoc queries.
- ✗
Amazon DynamoDB
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB is NoSQL, not designed for SQL queries on semi-structured 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 |
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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.