DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
A data engineer is optimizing an Amazon Redshift cluster that runs a nightly ETL workload. The engineer notices that the query performance degrades over the week and improves after a VACUUM operation. Which action should the engineer take to automate this maintenance and minimize impact on performance?
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
✓
Schedule a VACUUM command using a query scheduler like Amazon EventBridge.
It enables automated scheduling of VACUUM using Amazon EventBridge or Redshift's query scheduler, ensuring regular maintenance without manual intervention. Option A is wrong because manual intervention only when performance degrades is not automated and allows performance to degrade unnecessarily. Option B is wrong because disabling auto vacuum and running manual VACUUM nightly is not as efficient or integrated as using a scheduler, and it may disrupt the ETL if not timed properly. Option D is wrong because dropping and recreating tables weekly is disruptive and loses data or requires complex re-creation logic, whereas VACUUM re-sorts data in place.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Run VACUUM manually only when performance degrades significantly.
Why it's wrong here
Not automated, leads to performance degradation.
- ✗
Disable auto vacuum and run a manual VACUUM every night after the ETL.
Why it's wrong here
Manual VACUUM is not automated.
- ✓
Schedule a VACUUM command using a query scheduler like Amazon EventBridge.
Why this is correct
Automates the maintenance task.
- ✗
Drop and recreate the tables weekly to avoid unsorted data.
Why it's wrong here
Disruptive and causes data loss if not managed carefully.
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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.