DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
A data engineer needs to ensure that a Redshift cluster can recover from a failure with minimal data loss. The cluster is used for reporting and can tolerate a few minutes of downtime. Which feature should the engineer enable?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse Multi-AZ (a feature for RDS, not Redshift) with high availability, or assume manual snapshots are more reliable than automated ones, when in fact automated snapshots with a short retention period provide the best balance of minimal data loss and operational simplicity for Redshift.
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
✓
Enable automated snapshots with a retention period of 1 day.
Automated snapshots in Amazon Redshift are taken at regular intervals (default every 8 hours or 5 GB of data changes) and retained for a specified period. Enabling automated snapshots with a retention period of 1 day ensures that, in the event of a failure, the cluster can be restored to the most recent snapshot, minimizing data loss to at most the snapshot interval. This aligns with the requirement for minimal data loss and tolerance for a few minutes of downtime, as restoring from a snapshot takes time but preserves recent data.
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 cross-region snapshot copy.
Why it's wrong here
Cross-region replication is for disaster recovery, not for reducing data loss in the primary region.
- ✗
Take manual snapshots every hour.
Why it's wrong here
Manual snapshots are not automated and may be missed.
- ✗
Enable Multi-AZ deployment.
Why it's wrong here
Redshift does not support Multi-AZ; it is a single-AZ service.
- ✓
Enable automated snapshots with a retention period of 1 day.
Why this is correct
Automated snapshots allow recovery to any point within the retention period.
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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.