DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
A data engineer is troubleshooting a step function that orchestrates ETL jobs. The state machine fails with 'State Machine Execution Throttled' error. What should the engineer do to resolve this?
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
✓
Request a service quota increase for concurrent executions.
The 'State Machine Execution Throttled' error indicates that the state machine has exceeded the default concurrent execution limit for Step Functions. The proper resolution is to request a service quota increase from AWS Support for the concurrently running executions. Option A is incorrect: reducing the number of steps does not affect the limit on concurrent executions. Option B is incorrect: a CloudWatch alarm can detect throttling but cannot resolve it; the alarm would only notify, not increase quotas. Option C is incorrect: API rate limits are not the same as execution throttling; Step Functions has separate limits for API call rate and concurrent executions. Adjusting API rate limits would not address execution throttling.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Reduce the number of steps in the state machine.
Why it's wrong here
This does not address concurrent execution limits.
- ✗
Set up a CloudWatch alarm to detect throttling and retry.
Why it's wrong here
Alarms monitor but do not prevent throttling.
- ✗
Adjust the API rate limits in the state machine definition.
Why it's wrong here
API rate limits are for API calls, not execution throttling.
- ✓
Request a service quota increase for concurrent executions.
Why this is correct
Increasing the limit resolves the throttling.
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