DEA-C01 Data Operations and Support Practice Question
A data engineer needs to monitor the number of records processed by an Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics application and trigger an alarm if the count drops below a threshold over 5 minutes. Which CloudWatch metric should be used?
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
✓
millisBehindLatest (from KinesisDataAnalytics)
'millisBehindLatest' is a metric published by KinesisDataAnalytics that indicates how far behind the application is in processing records. Monitoring this metric allows the engineer to set an alarm when the number of records processed drops, as a high millisBehindLatest value indicates the application is falling behind. Option B (IncomingRecords) is from Kinesis Streams, not KinesisDataAnalytics. Option C (DPUCount) is a Glue metric. Option D (IncomingBytes) is a Kinesis Firehose metric.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
millisBehindLatest (from KinesisDataAnalytics)
Why this is correct
This metric indicates how far behind the application is; a drop in processing can be inferred.
- ✗
IncomingRecords (from Kinesis Streams)
Why it's wrong here
This measures records entering the stream, not processed by the app.
- ✗
DPUCount (from Glue)
Why it's wrong here
This is for Glue jobs, not KDA.
- ✗
IncomingBytes (from Kinesis Firehose)
Why it's wrong here
This is for Firehose, not Data Analytics.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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