DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
A data engineer is tasked with reducing costs for an Amazon Redshift cluster. The cluster is used for both ETL workloads and BI reporting. The engineer observes that the cluster is over-provisioned during off-peak hours. Which action would be MOST effective in reducing costs while maintaining performance during peak hours?
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
✓
Enable concurrency scaling to automatically add cluster capacity during peak hours.
Concurrency scaling adds additional capacity on demand and is cost-effective for variable workloads. Option A is incorrect because RA3 nodes with managed storage are more about storage scaling and may not directly reduce costs for variable workloads as effectively. Option C is incorrect because Reserved Instances require upfront payment and are best for steady-state, not variable workloads. Option D is incorrect because reducing node count may impact performance during peak hours.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Switch to RA3 node types for managed storage.
Why it's wrong here
RA3 nodes decouple storage and compute but do not directly address over-provisioning for variable workloads.
- ✓
Enable concurrency scaling to automatically add cluster capacity during peak hours.
Why this is correct
Concurrency scaling adds transient clusters only when needed, reducing cost during off-peak hours.
- ✗
Purchase Reserved Instances for the cluster.
Why it's wrong here
Reserved Instances are for steady-state workloads and require commitment; they do not address variable demand.
- ✗
Reduce the number of nodes in the cluster.
Why it's wrong here
This could cause performance issues during peak hours.
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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.