DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A data engineer needs to schedule an AWS Glue ETL job to run every hour and process new data that arrives in an S3 bucket. The job should only process files that have been added since the last run. Which approach should the engineer use to track which files have been processed?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates choose Option A (S3 Event Notifications) because it seems like a direct trigger for new files, but they overlook that the requirement is for an hourly batch job that tracks processed files across runs, not a per-file event-driven trigger.
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
✓
Enable job bookmarks in the Glue ETL job.
AWS Glue job bookmarks automatically track the last processed data, allowing the job to incrementally process only new files since the last run. This is the native, built-in mechanism for stateful incremental processing in Glue ETL, eliminating the need for external tracking.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure S3 Event Notifications to trigger the Glue job on each new object creation.
Why it's wrong here
Event notifications can trigger the job but the job would need to track processed files itself to avoid reprocessing.
- ✓
Enable job bookmarks in the Glue ETL job.
Why this is correct
Glue job bookmarks automatically track the state of data processed and only process new data.
- ✗
Store the last processed timestamp in a DynamoDB table and query it at the start of the job.
Why it's wrong here
This adds complexity and requires custom logic; Glue bookmarks handle this natively.
- ✗
Use S3 Inventory to list all objects and filter by last modified date in the job.
Why it's wrong here
S3 Inventory is a daily report, not real-time, and requires additional processing.
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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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.