MLS-C01 Data Engineering Practice Question
A data engineer needs to collect and analyze log data from multiple EC2 instances in real-time. The solution should be serverless and scalable. Which TWO AWS services should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently choose Amazon S3 alone for storage, forgetting that a real-time ingestion layer like Kinesis Data Firehose is required to collect and stream the data from EC2 instances into a queryable destination.
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 Kinesis Data Firehose
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose is the correct choice because it is a fully managed, serverless service that can capture, transform, and load streaming log data from EC2 instances into destinations like Amazon S3 or Amazon OpenSearch Service in near real-time, with no infrastructure to manage. It automatically scales to handle high-throughput data streams, making it ideal for real-time log analytics.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose
Why this is correct
Firehose can ingest streaming data.
- ✗
Amazon EMR
Why it's wrong here
EMR is not serverless and is overkill for this use case.
- ✗
Amazon Athena
Why it's wrong here
Athena is for batch querying.
- ✓
Amazon OpenSearch Service
Why this is correct
OpenSearch Service enables real-time log analytics.
- ✗
Amazon S3
Why it's wrong here
S3 is storage, not real-time analytics.
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 |
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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