MLS-C01 Data Engineering Practice Question
A data engineer needs to schedule an AWS Glue ETL job to run every hour. Which service should they use for scheduling?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse AWS Lambda as a scheduler because it can be used to run code on a schedule via CloudWatch Events, but the question asks for the service used for scheduling, not for executing the scheduled action.
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 CloudWatch Events
Amazon CloudWatch Events (now part of Amazon EventBridge) can trigger an AWS Glue ETL job on a schedule using a cron or rate expression. This is the native, serverless scheduling service for running jobs at fixed intervals, such as every hour, without needing to manage any infrastructure.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS Lambda
Why it's wrong here
Lambda can be invoked on schedule but not a native scheduler.
- ✓
Amazon CloudWatch Events
Why this is correct
CloudWatch Events can trigger Glue jobs on a schedule.
- ✗
Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS)
Why it's wrong here
SQS is a message queue, not a scheduler.
- ✗
AWS Step Functions
Why it's wrong here
Step Functions can orchestrate but are overkill for simple scheduling.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This MLS-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 MLS-C01 exam.