DVA-C02 Development with AWS Services Practice Question
A company is building a serverless application using AWS Lambda and Amazon API Gateway. The application needs to process user uploads to an S3 bucket. The Lambda function should be invoked only when new objects are created in the bucket. Which service should be used to trigger the Lambda function?
⚠ Common exam trap
DVA-C02 often tests the confusion between S3 event notifications and other services like SQS or CloudWatch Events; candidates may overcomplicate by choosing SQS when S3 event notifications directly trigger Lambda.
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
✓
Amazon S3 event notifications
Amazon S3 event notifications can be configured to trigger AWS Lambda functions when specific events occur in an S3 bucket, such as when a new object is created (e.g., s3:ObjectCreated:*). This is the native and most direct way to invoke a Lambda function in response to S3 object uploads. It requires no additional polling or infrastructure and is highly scalable.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Amazon Kinesis Data Streams
Why it's wrong here
Amazon Kinesis Data Streams is primarily designed for real-time processing of large streams of data, where producers continuously write records and consumers process them. While an AWS Lambda function can be configured to process records from a Kinesis stream, Amazon S3 does not natively publish object creation events directly to Kinesis. Implementing this would require an intermediary service or custom application to capture S3 events and then write them as records to a Kinesis stream, introducing unnecessary complexity and additional components for this specific use case.
- ✓
Amazon S3 event notifications
Why this is correct
Amazon S3 event notifications provide a direct, highly efficient, and serverless mechanism to trigger AWS Lambda functions in response to various object lifecycle events, such as object creation (e.g., `s3:ObjectCreated:*`). By configuring an event notification on an S3 bucket, S3 directly invokes the specified Lambda function with a detailed event payload. This eliminates the need for polling, custom code, or intermediary services, making it the most straightforward and cost-effective solution for reacting to S3 object uploads.
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Amazon CloudWatch Events
Why it's wrong here
Amazon CloudWatch Events, now largely superseded by Amazon EventBridge, focuses on delivering a near real-time stream of system events from AWS services or custom applications, or on scheduled events. While it can invoke Lambda functions as targets, CloudWatch Events does not natively receive or process S3 object creation events directly from S3 buckets. To integrate S3 object creation events with CloudWatch Events, the S3 events would first need to be routed through another service, such as an SNS topic, which then triggers a CloudWatch Event rule, adding an extra layer of indirection.
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Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS)
Why it's wrong here
Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) is a fully managed message queuing service used for decoupling and scaling microservices and distributed systems. While S3 can be configured to send object creation event notifications to an SQS queue, a Lambda function would then need to be configured with an event source mapping to poll this SQS queue for messages. This polling mechanism introduces additional latency and operational overhead compared to a direct S3-to-Lambda invocation, making it a less direct and less efficient method for triggering Lambda in response to S3 object creation.
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 |
Go deeper
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
This DVA-C02 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 DVA-C02 exam.