DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A data engineer needs to ingest data from an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL database into Amazon S3 on a daily basis. The data volume is approximately 500 GB per day. Which service is most appropriate for this task?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often overcomplicate by choosing EMR (Option C) due to familiarity with Spark, overlooking that AWS Glue provides the same Spark-based ETL capability in a fully managed, serverless form that is more cost-effective and simpler for scheduled batch ingestion.
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 Glue with a scheduled ETL job
AWS Glue with a scheduled ETL job is the most appropriate choice because it provides a fully managed, serverless ETL service that can efficiently extract 500 GB of data daily from Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL and write it to Amazon S3. Glue can handle large volumes via its distributed Spark-based execution, and scheduling ensures the daily cadence without manual intervention.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with continuous replication
Why it's wrong here
DMS is designed for migration and continuous replication, not scheduled daily batch.
- ✗
Amazon Athena with federated query to RDS
Why it's wrong here
Athena queries data in place; it does not transfer data to S3.
- ✗
Amazon EMR with Spark job
Why it's wrong here
EMR is complex and overkill for this simple batch transfer.
- ✓
AWS Glue with a scheduled ETL job
Why this is correct
AWS Glue can run scheduled ETL jobs to extract from RDS and load to S3.
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
One of 1,711 original DEA-C01 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.