DEA-C01 Data Store Management Practice Question
Which TWO statements about Amazon Redshift data distribution are correct? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse distribution styles with distribution options (e.g., DISTSTYLE is a parameter, not a style) and misunderstanding that ALL distribution replicates the entire table to every node, not slices, while AUTO dynamically selects the best style rather than defaulting to EVEN.
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
✓
KEY distribution places rows with the same distribution key on the same slice
In Amazon Redshift, KEY distribution places all rows with the same distribution key value on the same slice (compute node segment). This ensures that join operations on the distribution key are collocated, reducing data movement across the network and improving query performance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
DISTSTYLE is a distribution style option
Why it's wrong here
DISTSTYLE is a property, not a style.
- ✗
AUTO distribution always chooses EVEN
Why it's wrong here
AUTO lets Redshift choose based on table size.
- ✓
KEY distribution places rows with the same distribution key on the same slice
Why this is correct
KEY distribution colocates data by key.
- ✓
EVEN distribution distributes rows across slices evenly
Why this is correct
EVEN distributes rows round-robin.
- ✗
ALL distribution distributes data across all slices
Why it's wrong here
ALL distributes a full copy of the table to every node.
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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. Which TWO statements are true about Amazon Redshift distribution styles? (Choose TWO.)
medium- A.KEY distribution is always the best choice to minimize data skew.
- B.AUTO distribution always selects EVEN distribution.
- ✓ C.ALL distribution copies the entire table to every node.
- D.Redshift automatically assigns a ROUND ROBIN distribution style by default.
- ✓ E.EVEN distribution distributes rows across slices in a round-robin fashion.
Why C: The ALL distribution style in Amazon Redshift copies the entire table to every node in the cluster. This is ideal for small, slowly changing dimension tables (like date or location tables) that need to be joined with large fact tables, as it eliminates the need to redistribute data across nodes during query execution.
Variation 2. A data engineer runs the above SQL commands on an Amazon Redshift cluster. The table 'users' is created with DISTSTYLE EVEN. What is the effect of the DISTSTYLE EVEN on query performance?
easy- A.It stores all data on a single node for fast local queries.
- ✓ B.It ensures data is evenly distributed across all nodes to prevent data skew.
- C.It reduces data movement during queries by co-locating data based on user_id.
- D.It improves join performance when joining on user_id.
Why B: DISTSTYLE EVEN in Amazon Redshift distributes rows across all nodes in a round-robin fashion, ensuring each node holds approximately the same amount of data. This prevents data skew, which can cause some nodes to become bottlenecks, and improves overall query performance for workloads that do not benefit from key-based distribution. It is the correct choice because it directly addresses the goal of balanced data distribution.
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.