The answer is AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with S3 as the target. This is correct because AWS DMS is purpose-built for incremental database migration to S3, supporting both full-load tasks and ongoing replication through change data capture (CDC). For a scheduled, hourly transfer of JSON data from an on-premises relational database, DMS can continuously capture new or changed rows and write them directly to S3 without requiring custom scripting or additional infrastructure. On the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of managed migration services versus building custom ETL pipelines; a common trap is choosing AWS Glue or Kinesis, but DMS is the only service that natively handles incremental database migration to S3 with minimal configuration. Remember the memory tip: “DMS does the delta—Glue does the heavy ETL.” For scheduled, incremental database loads to S3, always think DMS first.
DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data ingestion and transformation. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A data engineer needs to ingest JSON data from an on-premises relational database into Amazon S3 every hour. Which AWS service should be used to set up a scheduled, incremental data transfer?
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 (DMS) with S3 as target.
AWS DMS is purpose-built for migrating databases to AWS targets, including Amazon S3. It supports ongoing replication (change data capture) and scheduled full-load tasks, making it ideal for hourly incremental transfers from an on-premises relational database to S3 without custom scripting.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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 with a cron job.
Why it's wrong here
Transfer Acceleration only accelerates uploads; it does not manage scheduling.
✓
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with S3 as target.
Why this is correct
DMS supports scheduled, incremental transfers from databases to S3.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
AWS Glue with a JDBC connection and a scheduled crawler.
Why it's wrong here
Glue can do this but is more complex and less optimized for incremental replication.
✗
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose with a database source.
Why it's wrong here
Firehose does not natively connect to relational databases.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse AWS Glue's ETL capabilities with DMS's managed database migration, assuming Glue's JDBC connections can handle incremental transfers, but Glue lacks built-in change data capture and requires custom logic for scheduled incremental loads.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
DMS uses a replication instance to connect to the source database via native protocols (e.g., Oracle LogMiner, MySQL binlog) for change data capture (CDC). When targeting S3, DMS writes data in Parquet, JSON, or CSV format, and you can configure a task to run on a schedule (e.g., every hour) using the 'Scheduled' task type, which performs a full load followed by optional CDC. A subtle behavior: DMS does not support all database data types natively when writing to S3; for example, BLOB/CLOB columns require special handling or conversion.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Data Ingestion and Transformation — This question tests Data Ingestion and Transformation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with S3 as target. — AWS DMS is purpose-built for migrating databases to AWS targets, including Amazon S3. It supports ongoing replication (change data capture) and scheduled full-load tasks, making it ideal for hourly incremental transfers from an on-premises relational database to S3 without custom scripting.
What should I do if I get this DEA-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A data engineer needs to ingest data from multiple on-premises relational databases into Amazon S3 for analytics. The data must be transformed and loaded daily. Which THREE AWS services should the engineer use together to build this pipeline? (Choose THREE.)
easy
✓ A.AWS Glue
✓ B.AWS Glue Data Catalog
C.Amazon Athena
✓ D.AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
E.Amazon Kinesis Data Streams
Why A: Options B, C, and D are correct. Option B: AWS DMS can migrate data from on-premises databases to S3. Option C: AWS Glue can transform the data. Option D: AWS Glue Data Catalog can store metadata. Option A is wrong because Kinesis Data Streams is for real-time streaming, not batch ingestion. Option E is wrong because Athena is for querying, not for building the ingestion pipeline.
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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.
Question Discussion
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