MLS-C01 Data Engineering Practice Question
A data engineer needs to move 50 TB of historical data from an on-premises Hadoop cluster to Amazon S3. The network bandwidth is limited to 100 Mbps. Which AWS service should be used to transfer the data most efficiently?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often overestimate the impact of acceleration or dedicated connections on large data volumes over low-bandwidth links, failing to calculate that even with perfect efficiency, a 100 Mbps link cannot transfer 50 TB in a reasonable time frame, making physical shipping the only viable option.
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
✓
AWS Snowball Edge device to physically ship the data.
Given 50 TB of data and a 100 Mbps network link, the theoretical minimum transfer time over the network is over 46 days (50 TB * 8 / 100 Mbps ≈ 4,000,000 seconds ≈ 46.3 days), not accounting for protocol overhead, retransmissions, or contention. AWS Snowball Edge is a physical appliance that bypasses the network bottleneck entirely, allowing you to copy data locally and ship it to AWS, making it the most efficient option for this volume over a constrained link.
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 S3 Transfer Acceleration to speed up the transfer.
Why it's wrong here
Transfer Acceleration optimizes internet transfers but is still limited by 100 Mbps.
- ✓
AWS Snowball Edge device to physically ship the data.
Why this is correct
Snowball bypasses network limitations by shipping data physically.
- ✗
AWS Direct Connect to establish a dedicated network connection.
Why it's wrong here
Direct Connect still relies on network bandwidth, which is limited.
- ✗
AWS Site-to-Site VPN to connect and copy data.
Why it's wrong here
VPN is limited by internet bandwidth and not efficient for 50 TB.
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 by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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