DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
A data engineer needs to store semi-structured JSON data that is accessed infrequently but must be retrievable within minutes. The data is generated by IoT devices and each object is about 500 KB. The engineer wants the most cost-effective storage solution. Which AWS service should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse 'infrequent access' with 'archival' and choose Glacier Deep Archive, overlooking the retrieval time requirement of 'within minutes' which S3 Standard-IA satisfies but Glacier does not.
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
✓
Amazon S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA)
Amazon S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA) is the correct choice because it is designed for data that is accessed infrequently but requires rapid retrieval (within minutes). The 500 KB JSON objects from IoT devices fit the use case, and S3 Standard-IA offers lower storage costs than S3 Standard while maintaining the same low-latency retrieval performance, making it the most cost-effective option for this scenario.
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 Glacier Deep Archive
Why it's wrong here
Retrieval time is hours, not minutes.
- ✗
Amazon S3 Standard
Why it's wrong here
Standard tier is more expensive for infrequent access.
- ✓
Amazon S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA)
Why this is correct
Cost-effective for infrequent access with rapid retrieval.
- ✗
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Why it's wrong here
EBS is block storage, not for object storage of JSON files.
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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Same concept, more angles
2 more ways this is tested on DEA-C01
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 store semi-structured JSON data that is accessed infrequently but requires immediate retrieval when needed. The data must be durable and cost-effective. Which Amazon S3 storage class should be used?
easy- ✓ A.S3 Standard-IA
- B.S3 Glacier
- C.S3 Standard
- D.S3 One Zone-IA
Why A: S3 Standard-IA is the correct choice because it offers the same durability and low-latency retrieval as S3 Standard but at a lower storage cost, making it ideal for infrequently accessed data that still needs immediate retrieval when requested. The scenario specifies 'infrequently accessed' and 'immediate retrieval,' which aligns with Standard-IA's design for data accessed less than once a month but with millisecond first-byte latency.
Variation 2. A data engineer needs to store semi-structured JSON data that is accessed infrequently but requires millisecond retrieval latency. The data is immutable once written. Which AWS service is most cost-effective?
easy- A.Amazon DynamoDB with on-demand capacity
- B.Amazon ElastiCache for Redis
- C.Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL with JSONB
- ✓ D.Amazon S3 (Standard-IA) with S3 Select
Why D: Amazon S3 Standard-IA with S3 Select is the most cost-effective choice because it provides infrequent access storage at low cost while S3 Select enables server-side filtering to retrieve only the required subset of JSON data, achieving millisecond latency for small queries on immutable data without the overhead of a full database.
JA
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.