MLS-C01 Data Engineering Practice Question
A data engineer needs to transfer 50 TB of historical data from an on-premises Hadoop cluster to Amazon S3. The on-premises network has a 1 Gbps connection to AWS. The transfer must be completed within 10 days. What is the MOST efficient approach?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates calculate the theoretical maximum transfer time (50 TB / 1 Gbps ≈ 4.6 days) and conclude it fits within 10 days, ignoring real-world network inefficiencies, protocol overhead, and the fact that sustained throughput rarely exceeds 50-70% of line rate, which pushes the actual time beyond the deadline.
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
✓
Use AWS Snowball Edge to physically ship the data.
Transferring 50 TB over a 1 Gbps connection would take approximately 5.6 days under ideal conditions (50 TB × 8 bits/byte / 1 Gbps / 86400 seconds/day ≈ 4.63 days), but real-world factors like network congestion, TCP overhead, and protocol inefficiencies typically reduce throughput to 50-70% of line rate, pushing the transfer beyond the 10-day window. AWS Snowball Edge provides a physical shipping alternative that bypasses network limitations entirely, making it the most efficient and reliable method for this volume and deadline.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use AWS Snowball Edge to physically ship the data.
Why this is correct
Snowball Edge provides high-speed local transfer and avoids network bottlenecks.
- ✗
Use Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration to speed up the upload.
Why it's wrong here
Transfer Acceleration improves speed but still limited by last-mile bandwidth.
- ✗
Use AWS DataSync over the existing network connection.
Why it's wrong here
DataSync uses the network; 1 Gbps would take ~5 days under ideal conditions, but may exceed 10 with overhead.
- ✗
Set up a VPN connection and use multi-part upload directly to S3.
Why it's wrong here
VPN adds overhead; 50 TB over 1 Gbps may take too long.
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
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.