DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
A data engineer needs to schedule an AWS Glue extract, transform, and load job to run every day at 02:00 UTC and trigger a dependent Amazon Redshift stored procedure only after the Glue job succeeds. The engineer wants a managed orchestration option that avoids provisioning servers. Which approach should the engineer use?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming any scheduler that can start a Glue job also enforces success-based dependencies, when only a conditional trigger provides that guarantee natively.
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
✓
Create an AWS Glue workflow with a daily trigger that starts the job and a conditional trigger that fires the Redshift step on success
Glue workflows are serverless and purpose-built for chaining Glue jobs and dependent actions. A schedule trigger handles the daily 02:00 UTC start, and a conditional trigger keyed to the job's success state ensures the Redshift procedure runs only after the job completes successfully, with no servers to manage.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Run an Amazon EC2 instance with a cron entry that calls the Glue StartJobRun API and then the Redshift API
Why it's wrong here
This works functionally but requires provisioning and maintaining an EC2 instance, directly violating the requirement to avoid server management. The instance also becomes a single point of failure for scheduling and dependency enforcement. It is the opposite of the managed, serverless orchestration the engineer wants.
- ✗
Configure an Amazon EventBridge schedule rule that invokes the Glue job and rely on the job to call Redshift on completion
Why it's wrong here
EventBridge can start the Glue job on a schedule, but it does not natively enforce that the Redshift procedure runs only after success. Embedding the Redshift call inside the Glue job couples transformation and orchestration and complicates retries. The scenario asks for managed orchestration of a dependent step, which this approach handles only with extra custom logic.
- ✗
Use AWS Step Functions Express Workflows with a cron expression to call Glue and then Redshift
Why it's wrong here
Step Functions can orchestrate this, but Express Workflows are designed for high-volume, short-duration executions and do not support the same long-running, exactly-once semantics as Standard Workflows. For a daily ETL job with a dependent step, Express is a mismatched choice. The Glue workflow is the more direct managed option for Glue-centric dependencies.
- ✓
Create an AWS Glue workflow with a daily trigger that starts the job and a conditional trigger that fires the Redshift step on success
Why this is correct
AWS Glue workflows provide serverless orchestration with schedule triggers for the daily 02:00 UTC start and conditional triggers that fire downstream actions only when the job reaches a SUCCEEDED state. This satisfies the dependency requirement without managing any servers, and it keeps orchestration within the Glue service already used for the job.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
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.