DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A data engineer is ingesting XML data from an external API into Amazon S3. The engineer needs to transform the XML to JSON using AWS Glue. The XML structure is deeply nested. Which Apache Spark method should be used in the Glue ETL script?
⚠ Common exam trap
The DEA-C01 exam often tests the misconception that AWS Glue has a built-in 'xml' data source (Option A), when in fact Glue relies on external Spark libraries like Databricks XML for XML processing, and candidates confuse the Spark SQL function from_xml() with a file-level reader.
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 spark.read.format('xml') with Databricks XML library
The Databricks XML library (spark.read.format('xml')) provides native support for parsing deeply nested XML into a DataFrame, which is essential for AWS Glue ETL scripts running on Spark. AWS Glue does not have a built-in 'xml' data source, and the Databricks library handles complex nested structures, attributes, and arrays automatically, making it the standard approach for XML-to-JSON transformation in Spark.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use the built-in AWS Glue 'xml' data source
Why it's wrong here
Glue's built-in XML support is limited.
- ✗
Use Hadoop's XmlInputFormat
Why it's wrong here
XmlInputFormat is for MapReduce, not Spark.
- ✓
Use spark.read.format('xml') with Databricks XML library
Why this is correct
This is the standard way to parse XML in Spark.
- ✗
Use the Spark SQL function from_xml()
Why it's wrong here
from_xml is a Spark 3.x function but requires schema; not as flexible.
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.