MLS-C01 Practice Question: Machine Learning Implementation and Operations
A machine learning engineer is using AWS Step Functions to orchestrate a SageMaker training job followed by a Lambda function for post-processing. The training job completes successfully, but the Lambda function fails with a timeout error. What is the MOST likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse a timeout error with a permissions or data size issue, but the error message explicitly names 'timeout', making it a direct indicator of execution duration exceeding the configured limit.
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
✓
The Lambda function execution time exceeds the maximum timeout limit
The Lambda function failed with a timeout error, which directly indicates that its execution duration exceeded the configured maximum timeout limit (default 3 seconds, max 15 minutes). This is the most likely cause because the error message explicitly states 'timeout', and Lambda enforces a hard timeout that terminates the function if it runs longer than the configured limit.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The Lambda function's IAM role lacks permissions to access the training output
Why it's wrong here
That would cause an access error, not timeout.
- ✓
The Lambda function execution time exceeds the maximum timeout limit
Why this is correct
Lambda timeout is 15 minutes max.
- ✗
The Step Functions state machine has a misconfigured retry policy
Why it's wrong here
Retry policy would not cause a timeout.
- ✗
The SageMaker training job output data is too large for Lambda to process
Why it's wrong here
Lambda can process large data via streaming.
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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