DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A data engineer is using AWS Step Functions to orchestrate a daily ingestion workflow. The workflow calls an AWS Glue job, then runs an AWS Lambda function to validate output, and finally starts an Amazon Redshift stored procedure. The engineer needs to ensure that if the Glue job fails, the workflow retries the Glue job up to three times with exponential backoff before failing the entire execution. Which Step Functions feature should the engineer configure?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is conflating Catch, which redirects execution on error, with Retry, which re-invokes the failed state and is the only feature that produces the required retry-with-backoff behavior.
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 a Retry policy on the Glue job task with MaxAttempts and BackoffRate.
Step Functions Retry policies are defined on individual states and accept MaxAttempts, IntervalSeconds, MaxDelaySeconds, and BackoffRate. Applying a Retry to the Glue job task with MaxAttempts of three and a BackoffRate above one produces exponential backoff retries scoped to that task. If all attempts fail, the state then fails and can be handled by a Catch block.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable idempotency on the Glue job so repeated invocations succeed.
Why it's wrong here
Idempotency ensures a job can be safely invoked more than once without duplicating side effects, which is useful for retries, but it does not itself trigger retries. Without a Retry policy, the workflow still stops on the first failure. Idempotency complements retries rather than replacing the retry configuration.
- ✓
Configure a Retry policy on the Glue job task with MaxAttempts and BackoffRate.
Why this is correct
Step Functions Retry policies are applied per state and support MaxAttempts, IntervalSeconds, MaxDelaySeconds, and BackoffRate. Setting MaxAttempts to three with a BackoffRate greater than one implements exponential backoff for the Glue job task specifically, which is exactly the required behavior for retrying only that step before the execution fails.
- ✗
Increase the Step Functions execution timeout to allow the Glue job to rerun.
Why it's wrong here
Execution timeout limits how long the whole state machine may run; it does not cause a failed task to be retried. Extending the timeout only gives more time for normal execution and would not re-invoke the Glue job after a failure, so it fails to deliver the required retry behavior.
- ✗
Configure a Catch block on the Glue job task to transition to a failure state.
Why it's wrong here
A Catch block handles errors by transitioning to another state, but it does not retry the failed task. Using Catch alone would route the execution to a failure or fallback state on the first error, skipping the required three retries with backoff. Retries must be defined with a Retry policy, not a Catch.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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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.