MLS-C01 AWS Glue Data Catalog Practice Question
A data engineering team is designing a data lake on AWS. They need to store raw data in S3 and allow multiple analytics services to query the data. Which service can be used to catalog and provide schema information for the data?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is that Amazon Athena can create and query tables using DDL statements, leading candidates to think it serves as a catalog. However, Athena stores its table definitions in the Glue Data Catalog, making the Data Catalog the actual schema repository. Thus, only AWS Glue Data Catalog is the correct service for cataloging and providing schema information.
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 Glue Data Catalog
AWS Glue Data Catalog is a fully managed metadata repository that stores table definitions, schema information, and partition details for data in S3. Amazon Athena, while it can query data in S3 using SQL, does not provide its own catalog; it relies on the Glue Data Catalog for schema information. Therefore, only AWS Glue Data Catalog directly catalogs and provides schema information.
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 Glue Data Catalog
Why this is correct
Glue Data Catalog stores metadata and schemas.
- ✗
Amazon Kinesis Data Streams
Why it's wrong here
Kinesis is for streaming data, not cataloging.
- ✗
Amazon RDS
Why it's wrong here
RDS is a relational database, not a catalog.
- ✗
Amazon DynamoDB
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB is a NoSQL database, not a data catalog.
- ✗
Amazon Athena
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Amazon Athena is a serverless query service that reads data from S3 and uses the Glue Data Catalog for schema information. It does not act as a catalog itself; it requires an existing catalog to provide schema information.
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.