DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A data engineer needs to ingest data from an external HTTP API into Amazon S3. The API returns JSON data for a list of users, updated hourly. The engineer wants to use a serverless solution with minimal operational overhead. Which AWS service should the engineer use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers assume AWS Lambda is the default serverless choice for any custom integration, overlooking that AppFlow provides a purpose-built, no-code solution for SaaS and HTTP API ingestion with lower operational overhead.
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
✓
Amazon AppFlow with an HTTP connector on a scheduled flow.
Amazon AppFlow with an HTTP connector on a scheduled flow is the correct choice because it provides a fully managed, serverless integration that directly connects to external HTTP APIs, retrieves JSON data, and writes it to Amazon S3 on a scheduled basis (e.g., hourly) without requiring any custom code or infrastructure management. This minimizes operational overhead while meeting the ingestion requirements.
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 Kinesis Data Firehose with a custom HTTP endpoint.
Why it's wrong here
Firehose does not natively pull from HTTP APIs.
- ✗
AWS Lambda function triggered by CloudWatch Events.
Why it's wrong here
Lambda alone requires code for pagination and error handling.
- ✓
Amazon AppFlow with an HTTP connector on a scheduled flow.
Why this is correct
AppFlow is serverless and designed for API ingestion.
- ✗
AWS Glue ETL job triggered by EventBridge.
Why it's wrong here
An AWS Glue ETL job triggered by EventBridge introduces unnecessary compute overhead and cost for a simple hourly HTTP-to-S3 ingestion, as Glue is designed for heavy extract-transform-load (ETL) workloads, not lightweight data movement. It is tempting because EventBridge scheduling and Glue’s serverless nature appear to match the “minimal operational overhead” requirement, but the correct service—AWS Lambda—directly invokes the API and writes raw JSON to S3 without the provisioning, job startup time, or Spark runtime that Glue imposes. Glue would be correct if the ingested data required complex transformations (e.g., schema evolution, joins) before landing in 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
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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.