DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A data engineer is using AWS Glue Studio to build a job that reads from an Amazon Kinesis Data Stream, performs a 5-minute tumbling window aggregation, and writes results to Amazon S3. The job must run continuously and handle late-arriving records within the window. Which configuration should the engineer use?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is choosing a scheduled batch job because the window is 5 minutes, when only a Glue streaming ETL job provides continuous windowed aggregation with checkpointing.
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
✓
Configure the job with the Glue streaming ETL type, set the window size to 5 minutes, and enable checkpointing to track stream position
Glue streaming ETL is purpose-built for continuous consumption from Kinesis and supports windowed aggregations with checkpointing. Selecting the streaming job type with a 5-minute window and enabled checkpoints gives the continuous, late-tolerant behavior the scenario requires, unlike scheduled batch jobs or Lambda.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Configure the job with the Glue streaming ETL type, set the window size to 5 minutes, and enable checkpointing to track stream position
Why this is correct
Glue streaming ETL jobs run continuously, consume from Kinesis, and support windowed aggregations with a configurable window size. Checkpointing tracks the stream position so the job resumes correctly and handles late records within the window as designed.
- ✗
Use a Glue batch job with the 'groupBy' transform set to a 5-minute window and run it once per hour
Why it's wrong here
A batch job with groupBy processes bounded input, not an unbounded stream, and running it hourly cannot provide continuous 5-minute tumbling windows. Late records outside the batch interval are dropped or misattributed, so this does not meet the streaming requirement.
- ✗
Use an AWS Lambda function triggered by the stream with a 5-minute timeout to aggregate records and write to S3
Why it's wrong here
Lambda functions have a maximum 15-minute timeout and no built-in windowing or checkpoint state across invocations, so they cannot reliably maintain 5-minute tumbling windows. Aggregating across invocations would require external state, adding complexity that Glue streaming avoids.
- ✗
Configure the job as a batch job with a schedule trigger that runs every 5 minutes and reads the stream's latest records
Why it's wrong here
A scheduled batch job re-reads from a checkpoint but is not a true streaming job; it cannot maintain continuous state for windowed aggregation, so late records arriving between runs are handled inconsistently. It also does not provide the streaming window semantics the scenario requires.
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
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.