This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data operations and support. 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 monitor the number of records processed by an AWS Glue ETL job and send an alert if the count drops below a threshold. Which AWS service should be used to create this custom metric?
Amazon S3
Why wrong: S3 is for object storage, not metrics.
AWS Config
Why wrong: Config evaluates resource configurations, not metrics.
Amazon CloudWatch
CloudWatch can store custom metrics and trigger alarms.
AWS CloudTrail
Why wrong: CloudTrail records API activity, not custom metrics.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Amazon CloudWatch
Amazon CloudWatch is the correct service for creating custom metrics because it allows you to publish your own data points, such as the number of records processed by an AWS Glue ETL job. You can use the CloudWatch PutMetricData API or the AWS Glue job script to emit a custom metric, then set an alarm on that metric to trigger an alert when the count drops below a threshold.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Amazon S3
Why it's wrong here
S3 is for object storage, not metrics.
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
Config evaluates resource configurations, not metrics.
Amazon CloudWatch
Why this is correct
CloudWatch can store custom metrics and trigger alarms.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS CloudTrail
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail records API activity, not custom metrics.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse AWS CloudTrail with CloudWatch because both are monitoring-related, but CloudTrail is for auditing API calls, not for ingesting custom numerical metrics or setting alarms on them.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, CloudWatch custom metrics are stored as time-series data points with a resolution of 1 minute (standard) or 1 second (high-resolution), and you can publish them using the PutMetricData API with a MetricDatum object that includes the metric name, value, unit, and optional dimensions. In a real-world scenario, a data engineer would add a line in the Glue ETL script (e.g., using boto3 in Python) to call put_metric_data after each batch, then create a CloudWatch alarm with a statistic like 'Sum' over a period of 5 minutes to detect drops below the threshold.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Data Operations and Support — This question tests Data Operations and Support — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Amazon CloudWatch — Amazon CloudWatch is the correct service for creating custom metrics because it allows you to publish your own data points, such as the number of records processed by an AWS Glue ETL job. You can use the CloudWatch PutMetricData API or the AWS Glue job script to emit a custom metric, then set an alarm on that metric to trigger an alert when the count drops below a threshold.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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.
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