Quick Answer
The correct choice is Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose because it is purpose-built for minimal latency ingestion to S3 for Spark SQL, handling streaming data from thousands of IoT devices by automatically buffering, compressing, and delivering records to Amazon S3 in near real-time without requiring custom code or server management. On the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam, this question tests your ability to distinguish between services optimized for ingestion versus processing: a common trap is selecting AWS Glue (which is for batch ETL, not streaming) or Amazon EMR (which processes data but doesn’t ingest directly to S3 with low latency). Remember that Kinesis Firehose is the “fire hose” that sprays data straight into S3, while Athena queries what’s already there. A helpful memory tip: Firehose for flow, Glue for grind, EMR for heavy compute.
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 company wants to ingest streaming data from thousands of IoT devices into Amazon S3 with minimal latency and then transform the data using Spark SQL. Which AWS service should be used for data ingestion?
Amazon EMR
Why wrong: EMR is for big data processing, not a streaming ingestion service.
AWS Glue
Why wrong: AWS Glue is a serverless ETL service, not designed for real-time streaming ingestion.
Amazon Athena
Why wrong: Athena is an interactive query service, not for data ingestion.
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose
Kinesis Data Firehose can ingest streaming data and deliver it to S3 with near-real-time latency.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose is the best choice because it can ingest streaming data, buffer it, and deliver it to S3 with minimal latency. AWS Glue is for ETL jobs, not real-time ingestion. Amazon Athena is a query service. Amazon EMR can process data but is not optimized for ingestion.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Amazon EMR
Why it's wrong here
EMR is for big data processing, not a streaming ingestion service.
AWS Glue
Why it's wrong here
AWS Glue is a serverless ETL service, not designed for real-time streaming ingestion.
Amazon Athena
Why it's wrong here
Athena is an interactive query service, not for data ingestion.
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose
Why this is correct
Kinesis Data Firehose can ingest streaming data and deliver it to S3 with near-real-time latency.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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.
What to study next
Identify which DEA-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
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FAQ
Data Ingestion and Transformation — This question tests Data Ingestion and Transformation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose — Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose is the best choice because it can ingest streaming data, buffer it, and deliver it to S3 with minimal latency. AWS Glue is for ETL jobs, not real-time ingestion. Amazon Athena is a query service. Amazon EMR can process data but is not optimized for ingestion.
Identify which DEA-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026
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.
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