This MLS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of data engineering. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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.
Refer to the exhibit. A data engineer examines the output of 'aws glue get-job-run' for a failed job. The job run state is FAILED, but ErrorMessage is empty. The job ran for 3600 seconds (1 hour) before failing. What is the MOST likely cause of the failure?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
The JDBC connection to the source database timed out.
Why wrong: Timeouts usually produce error messages.
The IAM role does not have sufficient permissions to access S3.
Why wrong: Permissions errors would appear in ErrorMessage.
The job ran out of memory due to insufficient DPU allocation.
Out-of-memory errors may not always produce a detailed error message in the job run output.
The Python script has a syntax error.
Why wrong: Syntax errors would be reported in logs.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
The job ran out of memory due to insufficient DPU allocation.
The job ran for 3600 seconds (the default Glue job timeout) before failing with a FAILED state and an empty ErrorMessage. This pattern is characteristic of an out-of-memory (OOM) error in AWS Glue, which occurs when the allocated DPUs (Data Processing Units) are insufficient for the data volume or transformation complexity. Glue kills the job at the timeout boundary without a detailed error message because the JVM or Python process is killed by the OS (OOM killer), not by a Glue service exception.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
The JDBC connection to the source database timed out.
Why it's wrong here
Timeouts usually produce error messages.
The IAM role does not have sufficient permissions to access S3.
Why it's wrong here
Permissions errors would appear in ErrorMessage.
The job ran out of memory due to insufficient DPU allocation.
Why this is correct
Out-of-memory errors may not always produce a detailed error message in the job run output.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
The Python script has a syntax error.
Why it's wrong here
Syntax errors would be reported in logs.
Common exam traps
AWS Glue jobs failing due to resource exhaustion (memory/DPU) will show a FAILED state with an empty ErrorMessage and run until the timeout, unlike permission or syntax errors which produce immediate, descriptive failures.
Detailed technical explanation
AWS Glue allocates DPUs (each DPU = 4 vCPU + 16 GB memory) to a job; the default maximum is 10 DPUs for Apache Spark jobs. When the data size or shuffle operations exceed the executor memory, the Spark driver or executor triggers an OutOfMemoryError, which the OS handles by killing the container. Glue's job runner detects the container exit but cannot always map it to a structured error message, resulting in an empty ErrorMessage and a FAILED state after the job timeout (default 2880 seconds for Spark, but 3600 for Python shell jobs).
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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.
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FAQ
Data Engineering — This question tests Data Engineering — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: The job ran out of memory due to insufficient DPU allocation. — The job ran for 3600 seconds (the default Glue job timeout) before failing with a FAILED state and an empty ErrorMessage. This pattern is characteristic of an out-of-memory (OOM) error in AWS Glue, which occurs when the allocated DPUs (Data Processing Units) are insufficient for the data volume or transformation complexity. Glue kills the job at the timeout boundary without a detailed error message because the JVM or Python process is killed by the OS (OOM killer), not by a Glue service exception.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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