DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
A data engineer is using AWS Step Functions to orchestrate a series of AWS Glue jobs. One of the Glue jobs occasionally fails due to transient issues, such as a temporary network glitch. The engineer wants the Step Functions state machine to automatically retry that specific Glue job up to three times before moving to a failure state. Which Step Functions feature should be used to implement this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse error handling with retry logic; Catch handles errors by branching, while Retry actually re-executes the state.
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
✓
Add a Retry field to the state that invokes the Glue job.
The Retry field in Step Functions is specifically designed to handle transient errors by automatically retrying a state. It allows you to specify the error types to retry (e.g., States.TaskFailed), the maximum number of attempts, the interval between retries, and a backoff rate. This is the standard way to implement retry logic for a Glue job invocation within a state machine.
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 a Catch field to transition to a retry state on failure.
Why it's wrong here
A Catch field is used to handle errors by transitioning to a fallback state, but it does not automatically retry. You could manually create a loop with a counter, but that is more complex and not the built-in retry mechanism. Catch alone does not provide the retry count or backoff.
- ✗
Use a Parallel state to run the Glue job multiple times concurrently.
Why it's wrong here
A Parallel state executes multiple branches simultaneously, not sequential retries. Running the job concurrently would not help with transient failures and could cause duplicate processing or resource contention. It does not provide retry logic and is not suitable for handling intermittent errors.
- ✗
Increase the Glue job's timeout and memory allocation.
Why it's wrong here
Adjusting the Glue job's timeout or memory might help with performance-related failures, but it does not address transient network glitches. It also does not provide automatic retries. The Step Functions state machine would still fail immediately if the job fails, without retrying.
- ✓
Add a Retry field to the state that invokes the Glue job.
Why this is correct
Step Functions states support a Retry field where you can specify the error types to retry, the interval between retries, the maximum number of attempts, and a backoff rate. This is exactly designed for transient failures. By configuring MaxAttempts to 3, the state will automatically retry the Glue job invocation three times before failing.
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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.