DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A data engineer is designing a streaming ingestion pipeline using Amazon Kinesis Data Streams. The stream receives records from thousands of IoT devices, and the engineer must ensure that records from the same device are processed in order. The engineer also needs to scale the stream to handle peak loads without manual intervention. Which two actions should the engineer take? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that enhanced fan-out or random partitioning improves ordering or scaling; enhanced fan-out only affects read throughput, and random partitioning breaks ordering.
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
✓
Use the device ID as the partition key when putting records into the stream.
To ensure per-device ordering, records from the same device must go to the same shard, which is achieved by using the device ID as the partition key. To handle peak loads without manual intervention, the stream should use on-demand capacity mode, which automatically scales shards. Together, these actions meet both ordering and scaling requirements for the IoT streaming pipeline.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable enhanced fan-out for consumers to increase read throughput.
Why it's wrong here
Enhanced fan-out provides dedicated throughput per consumer, reducing read latency, but it does not affect the ordering of records or the scaling of the stream itself. Ordering is determined by partition key and shard assignment. While useful for multiple consumers, it does not address the requirement to scale the stream automatically.
- ✓
Use the device ID as the partition key when putting records into the stream.
Why this is correct
Using the device ID as the partition key ensures that all records from the same device are routed to the same shard. Within a shard, records are processed in the order they arrive. This guarantees per-device ordering, which is a key requirement. It also distributes the load across shards based on the number of devices, enabling horizontal scaling.
- ✗
Use a random partition key to evenly distribute records across shards.
Why it's wrong here
A random partition key would distribute records evenly but would break ordering because records from the same device could land on different shards. Ordering is only guaranteed within a shard. This approach sacrifices the per-device ordering requirement, making it unsuitable for this scenario.
- ✓
Configure the stream to use on-demand capacity mode.
Why this is correct
On-demand capacity mode automatically scales the number of shards based on the incoming data rate. This eliminates the need for manual shard management and ensures the stream can handle peak loads. It is ideal for unpredictable workloads, such as IoT data, and maintains ordering by keeping the same partition key logic.
- ✗
Increase the retention period of the stream to 365 days.
Why it's wrong here
Retention period controls how long data is stored and available for consumption, not how the stream scales or orders records. Extending retention does not help with scaling to handle peak loads or with per-device ordering. It is unrelated to the requirements and would only increase storage costs.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This DEA-C01 question is part of Courseiva's 1,321-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
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.