DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A data engineer needs to capture change data capture (CDC) events from an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL database and stream them to Amazon S3 in near real-time. Which AWS service should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse Kinesis Data Streams as a direct CDC solution, but it requires a separate CDC tool or custom application to capture PostgreSQL changes, whereas AWS DMS natively supports this integration.
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
✓
AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS)
AWS DMS supports continuous replication from PostgreSQL source databases using logical replication slots to capture CDC events in near real-time. It can directly stream these changes to Amazon S3 as a target, making it the correct choice for this use case.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration
Why it's wrong here
Transfer Acceleration speeds up uploads to S3 over long distances using edge locations; it does not read PostgreSQL transaction logs or generate change events. It is tempting because the destination is S3, but it optimises transport of data you already have, not capture of changes at the source.
- ✗
Amazon Athena
Why it's wrong here
Athena queries data already in Amazon S3 using SQL; it neither connects to PostgreSQL nor captures row-level changes, so it cannot produce a CDC stream. It is tempting because it is a familiar analytics service, and would be correct for ad-hoc querying of the resulting S3 files after ingestion.
- ✓
AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS)
Why this is correct
DMS supports ongoing replication (CDC) from databases to S3.
- ✗
Amazon Kinesis Data Streams
Why it's wrong here
Kinesis Data Streams ingests and buffers streaming records but cannot itself read PostgreSQL write-ahead logs, so no CDC events are captured from RDS. It is tempting because it is the natural landing point for streaming data, and would be correct if another service, such as Database Migration Service, were already producing the change stream.
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
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JA
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.