DEA-C01 Data Ingestion and Transformation Practice Question
This DEA-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data ingestion and transformation. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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.
Exhibit
Refer to the exhibit.
IAM policy for an IAM role used by an AWS Glue crawler:
```json
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"s3:GetObject",
"s3:ListBucket"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:s3:::my-data-lake/*",
"arn:aws:s3:::my-data-lake"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"glue:GetDatabase",
"glue:CreateTable",
"glue:UpdateTable",
"glue:DeleteTable"
],
"Resource": "*"
}
]
}
```
A data engineer runs an AWS Glue crawler that is configured to crawl an S3 bucket named 'my-data-lake' and update the Glue Data Catalog. The crawler fails with an access denied error. The IAM role attached to the crawler has the policy shown in the exhibit. What is the likely cause of the failure?
Exhibit
Refer to the exhibit.
IAM policy for an IAM role used by an AWS Glue crawler:
```json
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"s3:GetObject",
"s3:ListBucket"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:s3:::my-data-lake/*",
"arn:aws:s3:::my-data-lake"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"glue:GetDatabase",
"glue:CreateTable",
"glue:UpdateTable",
"glue:DeleteTable"
],
"Resource": "*"
}
]
}
```
A
The policy does not allow glue:CreateTable on the 'my-data-lake' database.
Why wrong: The policy allows glue:CreateTable on all resources ("*").
B
The policy does not allow s3:PutObject on the 'my-data-lake' bucket.
Why wrong: The crawler only reads from S3, it does not write to S3.
C
The policy does not allow logging to CloudWatch Logs.
Glue crawlers require permissions to create log groups and streams and write logs; the policy lacks logs:CreateLogGroup, logs:CreateLogStream, and logs:PutLogEvents.
D
The policy does not allow s3:ListBucket on the 'my-data-lake' bucket.
Why wrong: The policy includes s3:ListBucket on the bucket ARN.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The policy does not allow logging to CloudWatch Logs.
AWS Glue crawlers require permissions to write logs to CloudWatch Logs for monitoring and debugging. Without the `logs:CreateLogGroup`, `logs:CreateLogStream`, and `logs:PutLogEvents` actions, the crawler fails with an access denied error even if it has S3 and Glue Data Catalog permissions. The IAM policy shown does not include these CloudWatch Logs permissions, making option C the correct answer.
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.
✗
The policy does not allow glue:CreateTable on the 'my-data-lake' database.
Why it's wrong here
The policy allows glue:CreateTable on all resources ("*").
✗
The policy does not allow s3:PutObject on the 'my-data-lake' bucket.
Why it's wrong here
The crawler only reads from S3, it does not write to S3.
✓
The policy does not allow logging to CloudWatch Logs.
Why this is correct
Glue crawlers require permissions to create log groups and streams and write logs; the policy lacks logs:CreateLogGroup, logs:CreateLogStream, and logs:PutLogEvents.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The policy does not allow s3:ListBucket on the 'my-data-lake' bucket.
Why it's wrong here
The policy includes s3:ListBucket on the bucket ARN.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates focus on S3 and Glue Data Catalog permissions, overlooking the mandatory CloudWatch Logs permissions required for AWS Glue crawlers to run successfully.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, AWS Glue crawlers use CloudWatch Logs to record crawler run logs, progress, and errors. The IAM role must have a trust policy allowing `glue.amazonaws.com` and the permissions to create log groups and streams and put log events. Without these, the crawler cannot initialize its logging subsystem and fails immediately, even if all other permissions are correct. This is a common oversight when crafting minimal IAM policies for Glue crawlers.
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.
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: The policy does not allow logging to CloudWatch Logs. — AWS Glue crawlers require permissions to write logs to CloudWatch Logs for monitoring and debugging. Without the `logs:CreateLogGroup`, `logs:CreateLogStream`, and `logs:PutLogEvents` actions, the crawler fails with an access denied error even if it has S3 and Glue Data Catalog permissions. The IAM policy shown does not include these CloudWatch Logs permissions, making option C the correct answer.
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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Question Discussion
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