Quick Answer
The answer is AWS Lambda, Amazon SQS, and Amazon S3 Event Notifications. This trio builds a serverless ingestion pipeline from S3 to DynamoDB by using S3 Events to trigger notifications to an SQS queue whenever a JSON file is uploaded, then having Lambda poll that queue to process and write each record into DynamoDB. SQS decouples the pipeline, preventing data loss if Lambda is busy or throttled, and ensures reliable asynchronous ingestion. On the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam, this pattern tests your understanding of event-driven architectures and decoupling with managed services—a common trap is choosing Kinesis instead of SQS, but Kinesis is for real-time streaming, not hourly batch file triggers. Remember the mnemonic: S3 sends, SQS stores, Lambda loads to DynamoDB.
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 JSON files from an Amazon S3 bucket into an Amazon DynamoDB table. The files are uploaded every hour. Which THREE services can be used together to build this ingestion pipeline?
AWS Step Functions
Why wrong: Step Functions can orchestrate but adds complexity; not necessary for simple ingestion.
Amazon SQS
SQS can decouple S3 events from Lambda for reliability.
Amazon DynamoDB Streams
Why wrong: DynamoDB Streams captures changes to DynamoDB, not needed for ingestion.
Amazon S3 Event Notifications
S3 Events can trigger Lambda on object creation.
AWS Lambda
Lambda can read from S3 and write to DynamoDB.
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 SQS
Amazon SQS is correct because it decouples the ingestion pipeline, allowing S3 Event Notifications to send messages to an SQS queue when new JSON files arrive. AWS Lambda can then poll the SQS queue to process the files and write to DynamoDB, ensuring reliable, asynchronous ingestion without data loss.
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.
AWS Step Functions
Why it's wrong here
Step Functions can orchestrate but adds complexity; not necessary for simple ingestion.
Amazon SQS
Why this is correct
SQS can decouple S3 events from Lambda for reliability.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon DynamoDB Streams
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB Streams captures changes to DynamoDB, not needed for ingestion.
Amazon S3 Event Notifications
Why this is correct
S3 Events can trigger Lambda on object creation.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS Lambda
Why this is correct
Lambda can read from S3 and write to DynamoDB.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse DynamoDB Streams (for capturing table changes) with the ingestion pipeline itself, or incorrectly assume Step Functions is needed for simple event-driven workflows, when SQS+Lambda is the standard serverless pattern for this use case.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, S3 Event Notifications can be configured to send events to SQS (or SNS/Lambda) with a payload containing the bucket and object key. The Lambda function, triggered by SQS, reads the JSON file from S3 using the S3 GetObject API, parses it, and uses the DynamoDB PutItem API to write items. SQS provides at-least-once delivery and can handle burst traffic, while Lambda auto-scales based on the number of messages in the queue, making this pattern cost-effective and resilient.
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
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Data Ingestion and Transformation — study guide chapter
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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 SQS — Amazon SQS is correct because it decouples the ingestion pipeline, allowing S3 Event Notifications to send messages to an SQS queue when new JSON files arrive. AWS Lambda can then poll the SQS queue to process the files and write to DynamoDB, ensuring reliable, asynchronous ingestion without data loss.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 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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