- A
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with continuous replication
Why wrong: DMS is designed for migration and continuous replication, not scheduled daily batch.
- B
Amazon Athena with federated query to RDS
Why wrong: Athena queries data in place; it does not transfer data to S3.
- C
Amazon EMR with Spark job
Why wrong: EMR is complex and overkill for this simple batch transfer.
- D
AWS Glue with a scheduled ETL job
AWS Glue can run scheduled ETL jobs to extract from RDS and load to S3.
Question 935 of 1,786
DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data ingestion and transformation. 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 ingest data from an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL database into Amazon S3 on a daily basis. The data volume is approximately 500 GB per day. Which service is most appropriate for this task?
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
✓
AWS Glue with a scheduled ETL job
AWS Glue with a scheduled ETL job is the most appropriate choice because it provides a fully managed, serverless ETL service that can efficiently extract 500 GB of data daily from Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL and write it to Amazon S3. Glue can handle large volumes via its distributed Spark-based execution, and scheduling ensures the daily cadence without manual intervention.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with continuous replication
Why it's wrong here
DMS is designed for migration and continuous replication, not scheduled daily batch.
- ✗
Amazon Athena with federated query to RDS
Why it's wrong here
Athena queries data in place; it does not transfer data to S3.
- ✗
Amazon EMR with Spark job
Why it's wrong here
EMR is complex and overkill for this simple batch transfer.
- ✓
AWS Glue with a scheduled ETL job
Why this is correct
AWS Glue can run scheduled ETL jobs to extract from RDS and load to S3.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often overcomplicate by choosing EMR (Option C) due to familiarity with Spark, overlooking that AWS Glue provides the same Spark-based ETL capability in a fully managed, serverless form that is more cost-effective and simpler for scheduled batch ingestion.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
AWS Glue uses Apache Spark under the hood, automatically scaling resources to handle large datasets like 500 GB by partitioning the work across multiple executors. The JDBC connection to PostgreSQL can be optimized with fetch size and partitioning keys to avoid overwhelming the source database, and Glue's built-in bookmarks can track incremental changes if needed, though for a full daily dump, a full table scan is typical.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
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.
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 |
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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Data Ingestion and Transformation — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this DEA-C01 question test?
Data Ingestion and Transformation — This question tests Data Ingestion and Transformation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: AWS Glue with a scheduled ETL job — AWS Glue with a scheduled ETL job is the most appropriate choice because it provides a fully managed, serverless ETL service that can efficiently extract 500 GB of data daily from Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL and write it to Amazon S3. Glue can handle large volumes via its distributed Spark-based execution, and scheduling ensures the daily cadence without manual intervention.
What should I do if I get this DEA-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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