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Question 709 of 1,755

Data Engineering →hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

MLS-C01 Data Engineering Practice Question

This MLS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data engineering. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.

A data engineer needs to move 10 TB of historical data from an on-premises Hadoop cluster to Amazon S3 for ML training. The data is currently stored in HDFS and is compressible. The network bandwidth between the on-premises data center and AWS is 1 Gbps. The team needs to minimize the time to transfer and also wants to avoid any downtime for the on-premises system. Which solution meets these requirements?

Clue words in this question

Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.

Clue: "minimum / minimize"
Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.

A
Set up an AWS Direct Connect connection and use rsync to copy data to S3.
Why wrong: Direct Connect improves network stability but rsync lacks optimization for large transfers.
B
Enable S3 Transfer Acceleration on the bucket and use the AWS CLI to copy data.
Why wrong: Transfer Acceleration helps with latency but not as efficient as DataSync for large datasets.
C
Install the AWS DataSync agent on-premises, configure a task to transfer data to S3 with compression enabled.
DataSync is optimized for large data transfers with compression and parallelization.
D
Use AWS Snowball Edge devices to export the data and ship them to AWS.
Why wrong: Snowball Edge involves shipping time and is not necessary for 10 TB over 1 Gbps.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

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

✓

Install the AWS DataSync agent on-premises, configure a task to transfer data to S3 with compression enabled.

AWS DataSync is designed for large-scale data transfers from on-premises storage to AWS, and it can compress data in transit to reduce transfer time over a 1 Gbps link. It also operates as an agent-based solution that does not require downtime for the on-premises Hadoop cluster, as it reads data from HDFS without disrupting ongoing operations.

Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

✗
Set up an AWS Direct Connect connection and use rsync to copy data to S3.
Why it's wrong here
Direct Connect improves network stability but rsync lacks optimization for large transfers.
✗
Enable S3 Transfer Acceleration on the bucket and use the AWS CLI to copy data.
Why it's wrong here
Transfer Acceleration helps with latency but not as efficient as DataSync for large datasets.
✓
Install the AWS DataSync agent on-premises, configure a task to transfer data to S3 with compression enabled.
Why this is correct
DataSync is optimized for large data transfers with compression and parallelization.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use AWS Snowball Edge devices to export the data and ship them to AWS.
Why it's wrong here
Snowball Edge involves shipping time and is not necessary for 10 TB over 1 Gbps.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates often overlook the compression capability of DataSync and assume that faster network options like Direct Connect or Transfer Acceleration alone are sufficient, ignoring that compression is critical to minimize transfer time over a fixed bandwidth.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

AWS DataSync uses a purpose-built protocol that can automatically compress data using gzip or LZ4 during transfer, reducing the effective data size by 2-5x for compressible data like text or logs. It also performs incremental transfers and validation with checksums, ensuring data integrity without manual intervention. In a real-world scenario, a 10 TB dataset with 3x compression would transfer in under 8 hours over a 1 Gbps link, compared to over 22 hours without compression.

KKey Concepts to Remember

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.

TExam Day Tips

Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.

Key takeaway

Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.

Real-world example

How this comes up in practice

A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.

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

What to study next

Got this wrong? Here's your next step.

Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this MLS-C01 question test?

Data Engineering — This question tests Data Engineering — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Install the AWS DataSync agent on-premises, configure a task to transfer data to S3 with compression enabled. — AWS DataSync is designed for large-scale data transfers from on-premises storage to AWS, and it can compress data in transit to reduce transfer time over a 1 Gbps link. It also operates as an agent-based solution that does not require downtime for the on-premises Hadoop cluster, as it reads data from HDFS without disrupting ongoing operations.

What should I do if I get this MLS-C01 question wrong?

Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.

Are there clue words in this question I should notice?

Yes — watch for: "minimum / minimize". Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

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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.