Real-Time Streaming with Apache Flink on AWS
A company is designing a new application that will process streaming data from thousands of IoT devices. The data must be ingested in real time and then processed using Apache Flink. Which services should be used? (Choose TWO.)
Quick Answer
The correct answer is Amazon Kinesis Data Streams for ingestion and Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics for Apache Flink for processing. Kinesis Data Streams is the ideal ingestion layer because it provides durable, scalable shards that can handle the high throughput from thousands of IoT devices while retaining data for up to 365 days, enabling Apache Flink to consume records with exactly-once semantics and low latency. On the SAP-C02 exam, this pairing tests your understanding of real-time streaming ingestion and Apache Flink processing within AWS’s managed ecosystem, often appearing in scenarios that require decoupling data capture from compute. A common trap is selecting Amazon MSK or Kinesis Data Firehose—MSK adds operational overhead for Kafka management, while Firehose lacks the replay and fine-grained consumption needed for Flink’s stateful processing. Remember the mnemonic “Streams for streams, Analytics for Flink” to quickly recall that Kinesis Data Streams handles ingestion, and Kinesis Data Analytics for Apache Flink handles the processing logic.
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse Kinesis Data Firehose with Kinesis Data Streams, not realizing that Firehose is a delivery service that does not support Apache Flink's requirement for per-record replay and checkpointing, while Data Streams provides the necessary persistent, ordered stream.
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
✓
Amazon Kinesis Data Streams
Amazon Kinesis Data Streams is the correct ingestion service because it provides a durable, scalable, real-time data streaming platform that can handle the high throughput from thousands of IoT devices. It stores data in shards for up to 365 days, enabling Apache Flink to consume and process the data with exactly-once semantics and low latency.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Amazon Kinesis Data Streams
Why this is correct
Kinesis Data Streams is designed for real-time data ingestion.
- ✗
AWS Lambda
Why it's wrong here
Lambda can process streaming data but does not natively support Apache Flink.
- ✓
Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics for Apache Flink
Why this is correct
This service allows running Apache Flink applications on Kinesis data streams.
- ✗
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose
Why it's wrong here
Firehose is for loading data to destinations like S3 or Redshift, not for Flink processing.
- ✗
Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS)
Why it's wrong here
SQS is a message queue, not designed for streaming ingestion.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on SAP-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company is designing a new application that will process streaming data from IoT devices. The data must be ingested in real-time and stored in Amazon S3 for long-term analytics. Which AWS service should be used to ingest the streaming data?
easy- A.Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)
- B.Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS)
- C.AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
- ✓ D.Amazon Kinesis Data Streams
Why D: Amazon Kinesis Data Streams is designed for real-time data ingestion and can stream data directly to Amazon S3. Option A is wrong because SNS is a pub/sub messaging service, not intended for real-time data ingestion. Option B is wrong because SQS is a message queue service, not optimized for streaming ingestion. Option C is wrong because AWS DMS is used for database migration, not for ingesting streaming data.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SAP-C02 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 SAP-C02 exam.