Free Amazon-DEA-C01 Exam Braindumps
AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate Questions 89–96 (page: 13)

Updated On: 3-Aug-2026

A data engineer wants to improve the performance of SQL queries in Amazon Athena that run against a sales data table. The data engineer wants to understand the execution plan of a specific SQL statement. The data engineer also wants to see the computational cost of each operation in a SQL query.
Which statement does the data engineer need to run to meet these requirements?

  1. EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM sales;
  2. EXPLAIN ANALYZE FROM sales;
  3. EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM sales;
  4. EXPLAIN FROM sales;

Answer(s): C

Explanation:

The correct answer is C: EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM sales; . Here's why:
The EXPLAIN statement in SQL, including Athena's Presto-based engine, provides information about the query execution plan. It describes the steps the query engine will take to process the query.
Option A, EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM sales; , provides the execution plan, but it doesn't execute the query.
Thus, it doesn't provide the computational cost of each operation because it's merely a plan.
Option D, EXPLAIN FROM sales; , is syntactically incorrect. EXPLAIN must be followed by a valid SELECT
statement or another query type.
Option B, EXPLAIN ANALYZE FROM sales; , is also syntactically incorrect. EXPLAIN ANALYZE requires a
SELECT statement (or other executable query) after it to be valid.
Option C, EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM sales; , is the correct option because it does both: it displays the query execution plan and executes the query. The ANALYZE keyword causes Athena to run the query and collect statistics about each operation (e.g., CPU time, memory usage, data transferred). This allows the data engineer to see the actual computational cost of each step in the query plan, thus fulfilling the requirement to understand both the execution plan and the computational cost of each operation. The output includes the standard execution plan with additional metrics detailing the performance of each stage.
In summary, EXPLAIN ANALYZE gives a data engineer both the execution plan and the actual cost data, which are essential for performance tuning of Athena queries. EXPLAIN alone only provides the plan. This combined information facilitates understanding the query's behavior and identifying areas for optimization (e.g., using appropriate data types, partitioning, or indexing).
Here's an authoritative link for further research:
Amazon Athena documentation on EXPLAIN: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/athena/latest/ug/explain.html (While this specific page doesn't directly discuss EXPLAIN ANALYZE , understanding EXPLAIN is foundational). Presto documentation on EXPLAIN ANALYZE: As Athena is based on Presto, the Presto documentation gives detail about EXPLAIN ANALYZE : https://prestodb.io/docs/current/sql/explain.html



A company plans to provision a log delivery stream within a VPC. The company configured the VPC flow logs to publish to Amazon CloudWatch Logs. The company needs to send the flow logs to Splunk in near real time for further analysis.
Which solution will meet these requirements with the LEAST operational overhead?

  1. Configure an Amazon Kinesis Data Streams data stream to use Splunk as the destination. Create a CloudWatch Logs subscription filter to send log events to the data stream.
  2. Create an Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose delivery stream to use Splunk as the destination. Create a
    CloudWatch Logs subscription filter to send log events to the delivery stream.
  3. Create an Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose delivery stream to use Splunk as the destination. Create an AWS Lambda function to send the flow logs from CloudWatch Logs to the delivery stream.
  4. Configure an Amazon Kinesis Data Streams data stream to use Splunk as the destination. Create an AWS Lambda function to send the flow logs from CloudWatch Logs to the data stream.

Answer(s): B

Explanation:

The correct answer is B: Create an Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose delivery stream to use Splunk as the destination. Create a CloudWatch Logs subscription filter to send log events to the delivery stream.
Here's a detailed justification:
The problem requires a solution that delivers VPC flow logs from CloudWatch Logs to Splunk in near real-time with minimal operational overhead. Both Kinesis Data Streams and Kinesis Data Firehose are suitable for streaming data. However, Kinesis Data Firehose is designed for loading data into data stores and analytics tools like Splunk. Kinesis Data Firehose offers built-in integration with Splunk, simplifying the setup and management of the data ingestion pipeline.
A CloudWatch Logs subscription filter allows you to send log events to other AWS services, including Kinesis Data Firehose. This direct integration removes the need for custom code or intermediary components, further reducing operational overhead. The subscription filter pushes the logs as they arrive, enabling near real-time delivery.
Option A using Kinesis Data Streams, while possible, would require you to manage scaling, partitioning, and potentially data transformation before sending it to Splunk. This increases operational complexity. Splunk is not a direct destination in Kinesis Data Streams without additional configuration.
Options C and D using a Lambda function to forward logs from CloudWatch Logs to either Kinesis Data Firehose or Data Streams introduce unnecessary complexity.
While Lambda offers flexibility, it adds operational overhead in terms of function management, error handling, and scaling. The direct integration offered by the CloudWatch Logs subscription filter eliminates the need for this intermediary Lambda function.
Therefore, creating a Kinesis Data Firehose delivery stream with Splunk as the destination and utilizing a CloudWatch Logs subscription filter offers the simplest, most direct, and least operationally intensive solution. It leverages built-in integrations and eliminates the need for custom code or additional services, which aligns with the problem's requirements.
For more information, refer to the following resources:
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose: https://aws.amazon.com/kinesis/data-firehose/ Amazon CloudWatch Logs Subscription Filters: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/logs/Subscriptions.html Kinesis Data Firehose Splunk Integration: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/firehose/latest/dev/splunk.html



A company has a data lake on AWS. The data lake ingests sources of data from business units. The company uses Amazon Athena for queries. The storage layer is Amazon S3 with an AWS Glue Data Catalog as a metadata repository. The company wants to make the data available to data scientists and business analysts. However, the company first needs to manage fine-grained, column-level data access for Athena based on the user roles and responsibilities.
Which solution will meet these requirements?

  1. Set up AWS Lake Formation. Define security policy-based rules for the users and applications by IAM role in Lake Formation.
  2. Define an IAM resource-based policy for AWS Glue tables. Attach the same policy to IAM user groups.
  3. Define an IAM identity-based policy for AWS Glue tables. Attach the same policy to IAM roles. Associate the IAM roles with IAM groups that contain the users.
  4. Create a resource share in AWS Resource Access Manager (AWS RAM) to grant access to IAM users.

Answer(s): A

Explanation:

The correct answer is A: Set up AWS Lake Formation. Define security policy-based rules for the users and applications by IAM role in Lake Formation.
Here's why:
AWS Lake Formation is specifically designed to simplify and automate data access management in data lakes. It provides fine-grained access control at the column level, which directly addresses the requirement to manage column-level access for Athena queries based on user roles and responsibilities. Lake Formation uses a centralized permissions model that leverages AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles, allowing administrators to define security policies that govern access to data in the data lake. These policies can specify which users or roles have access to specific columns in tables registered in the AWS Glue Data Catalog. Lake Formation also provides auditing capabilities, making it easier to track data access and ensure compliance with security policies.
Option B is incorrect because while IAM resource-based policies can be used to grant access to AWS Glue tables, managing fine-grained, column-level access becomes cumbersome and difficult to scale across many users and tables. It would require creating and maintaining numerous complex policies, which is not ideal for a centralized data lake access management solution.
Option C is incorrect because IAM identity-based policies are attached to users or roles and control what actions those users or roles can perform.
While they can grant access to AWS Glue tables, they don't easily allow for fine-grained, column-level access based on specific data attributes or user responsibilities. You'd still need to manage complex policy combinations.
Option D is incorrect because AWS RAM is primarily for sharing AWS resources across AWS accounts.
While useful for cross-account access, it doesn't directly address the need for fine-grained, column-level access control within a single account. It doesn't provide the centralized, policy-driven access management capabilities of Lake Formation.
In summary, Lake Formation is the most appropriate solution because it is specifically designed for managing fine-grained access control in data lakes, including column-level access, using a centralized, policy-driven approach integrated with IAM and the AWS Glue Data Catalog.
Further Research:
AWS Lake Formation: https://aws.amazon.com/lake-formation/ AWS Lake Formation Permissions Model: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lake-formation/latest/dg/security-data-access.html AWS Glue Data Catalog: https://aws.amazon.com/glue/features/



A company has developed several AWS Glue extract, transform, and load (ETL) jobs to validate and transform data from Amazon S3. The ETL jobs load the data into Amazon RDS for MySQL in batches once every day. The ETL jobs use a DynamicFrame to read the S3 data. The ETL jobs currently process all the data that is in the S3 bucket. However, the company wants the jobs to process only the daily incremental data.
Which solution will meet this requirement with the LEAST coding effort?

  1. Create an ETL job that reads the S3 file status and logs the status in Amazon DynamoDB.
  2. Enable job bookmarks for the ETL jobs to update the state after a run to keep track of previously processed data.
  3. Enable job metrics for the ETL jobs to help keep track of processed objects in Amazon CloudWatch.
  4. Configure the ETL jobs to delete processed objects from Amazon S3 after each run.

Answer(s): B

Explanation:

The correct answer is B. Enable job bookmarks for the ETL jobs to update the state after a run to keep track of previously processed data.
Here's a detailed justification:
The goal is to process only incremental data in S3 using AWS Glue ETL jobs, minimizing coding effort. Job bookmarks in AWS Glue provide a built-in mechanism to track the progress of ETL jobs, remembering the last processed state.
When a job runs with bookmarks enabled, Glue stores information about the files it has already processed in the Glue Data Catalog. During subsequent runs, Glue uses this bookmark information to only process new or updated files, effectively achieving incremental data processing.
Option B requires minimal coding because it leverages Glue's existing functionality. Enabling job bookmarks involves a simple configuration change in the Glue job definition. Glue automatically manages the tracking of processed files.
Option A requires custom coding to track file status in DynamoDB, adding complexity. The job needs to manage the DynamoDB table, update it on each run, and query to identify unprocessed files.
Option C, enabling job metrics in CloudWatch, does not directly address the requirement of processing only incremental data. CloudWatch metrics provide insights into job performance but don't inherently track which files have been processed. It would still require additional custom code to achieve the desired functionality.
Option D, deleting processed objects from S3, is generally not recommended. It can lead to data loss if the ETL job fails or if the data is needed for auditing or historical analysis. It also introduces potential risks of data corruption.
Job bookmarks are the most efficient and maintainable solution, reducing coding effort and providing a robust mechanism for incremental data processing in Glue ETL jobs. Glue automatically manages the tracking of processed files, making this the preferred option.
Refer to the official AWS documentation for more information on AWS Glue job bookmarks:
AWS Glue Job Bookmarks



An online retail company has an application that runs on Amazon EC2 instances that are in a VPC. The company wants to collect flow logs for the VPC and analyze network traffic.
Which solution will meet these requirements MOST cost-effectively?

  1. Publish flow logs to Amazon CloudWatch Logs. Use Amazon Athena for analytics.
  2. Publish flow logs to Amazon CloudWatch Logs. Use an Amazon OpenSearch Service cluster for analytics.
  3. Publish flow logs to Amazon S3 in text format. Use Amazon Athena for analytics.
  4. Publish flow logs to Amazon S3 in Apache Parquet format. Use Amazon Athena for analytics.

Answer(s): D

Explanation:

The correct answer is D, which involves publishing VPC flow logs to Amazon S3 in Apache Parquet format and then using Amazon Athena for analysis. This solution is the most cost-effective for several reasons.
Firstly, publishing flow logs to S3 is generally cheaper than publishing to CloudWatch Logs, especially for high volumes of data. S3 storage costs are lower than CloudWatch Logs ingestion and storage costs.
Secondly, storing flow logs in Apache Parquet format is crucial for cost optimization and query performance. Parquet is a columnar storage format that is highly efficient for analytical queries. Columnar storage means that Athena only reads the columns needed for the query, significantly reducing the amount of data scanned and, consequently, the query cost.
Thirdly, Amazon Athena is a serverless query service that allows you to analyze data directly in S3 using standard SQL. Athena charges only for the queries that you run, making it a cost-effective solution for ad-hoc analysis and exploration of flow logs. No dedicated infrastructure is required, and you avoid the operational overhead of managing a database or data warehouse.
Option A is less optimal because while Athena is a good choice for analytics, CloudWatch Logs are generally more expensive for storing high volumes of flow logs than S3. Option B is incorrect because an OpenSearch Service cluster involves significant operational overhead and ongoing costs, making it overkill for simple flow log analysis. OpenSearch is also generally more expensive than Athena for this purpose. Option C suggests storing flow logs in text format. Text format is less efficient for querying because Athena has to scan the entire file and parse the entire contents, consuming more resources.
In summary, storing flow logs in Parquet format on S3 and analyzing them using Athena provides a cost-effective, scalable, and efficient solution for analyzing VPC flow logs. Parquet format optimizes storage and query costs, while Athena provides a serverless querying experience without requiring extensive infrastructure management.
Relevant links:
VPC Flow Logs: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/userguide/flow-logs.html Amazon S3: https://aws.amazon.com/s3/ Amazon Athena: https://aws.amazon.com/athena/ Apache Parquet: https://parquet.apache.org/



A retail company stores transactions, store locations, and customer information tables in four reserved ra3.4xlarge Amazon Redshift cluster nodes. All three tables use even table distribution. The company updates the store location table only once or twice every few years. A data engineer notices that Redshift queues are slowing down because the whole store location table is constantly being broadcast to all four compute nodes for most queries. The data engineer wants to speed up the query performance by minimizing the broadcasting of the store location table.
Which solution will meet these requirements in the MOST cost-effective way?

  1. Change the distribution style of the store location table from EVEN distribution to ALL distribution.
  2. Change the distribution style of the store location table to KEY distribution based on the column that has the highest dimension.
  3. Add a join column named store_id into the sort key for all the tables.
  4. Upgrade the Redshift reserved node to a larger instance size in the same instance family.

Answer(s): A

Explanation:

The most cost-effective solution to minimize broadcasting of the store location table in Amazon Redshift, given its infrequent updates and impact on query performance, is A. Change the distribution style of the store location table from EVEN distribution to ALL distribution.
Here's why:
Understanding the Problem: The EVEN distribution distributes data evenly across all nodes in the cluster.
While good for large tables with frequent updates, it necessitates broadcasting small tables like the store location table during joins with other tables. This is because the data needed for the join might reside on different nodes. Broadcasting incurs network overhead and slows down query execution.
Why ALL Distribution is Optimal: ALL distribution replicates the entire store location table on every compute node. Since the table is small and rarely updated, the storage overhead is minimal. This eliminates the need for broadcasting during joins, as each node already possesses the complete table. This significantly speeds up query performance by performing joins locally on each node.
Why other options are less suitable:
B: KEY distribution: KEY distribution distributes rows based on the values in a specified column (the distribution key). Choosing a high-dimension column might not necessarily align the store location data with the other tables based on join criteria, still potentially requiring broadcasting. Furthermore, maintaining an appropriate distribution key requires understanding the query patterns which might change.
C: Adding a join column to the sort key: Sort keys primarily affect the order in which data is stored within each node, improving the efficiency of range-restricted queries. They don't influence how data is distributed across nodes and thus won't prevent broadcasting.
D: Upgrading the Redshift node instance size: This is a more expensive solution.
While it might improve overall query performance due to increased resources, it doesn't specifically address the broadcasting issue of the store location table. The underlying problem of network traffic due to broadcasting remains.
In summary, ALL distribution addresses the root cause of the performance bottleneck, which is broadcasting a small, infrequently updated table. It's a targeted and cost-effective approach compared to the broader, more expensive solution of upgrading the cluster.
Authoritative Links:
Amazon Redshift Distribution Styles: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/redshift/latest/dg/t_Distributing_data.html Choosing a Distribution Style: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/redshift/latest/dg/c_choosing_a_dist_style.html



A company has a data warehouse that contains a table that is named Sales. The company stores the table in Amazon Redshift. The table includes a column that is named city_name. The company wants to query the table to find all rows that have a city_name that starts with "San" or "El".
Which SQL query will meet this requirement?

  1. Select * from Sales where city_name ~ ‘$(San|El)*’;
  2. Select * from Sales where city_name ~ ‘^(San|El)*’;
  3. Select * from Sales where city_name ~’$(San&El)*’;
  4. Select * from Sales where city_name ~ ‘^(San&El)*’;

Answer(s): B

Explanation:

The correct SQL query to retrieve rows from the Sales table where city_name starts with "San" or "El" is option
B: Select from Sales where city_name ~ ‘^(San|El) ’; . This query utilizes regular expression matching in Amazon
Redshift.
Here's a breakdown of why this works and why the other options are incorrect:
~ operator: In Redshift, the ~ operator performs pattern matching using POSIX regular expressions.
^ character: The ^ character within a regular expression signifies the beginning of a string. Therefore,
^(San|El) asserts that the string must start with either "San" or "El".
(San|El) : This is a regular expression construct indicating alternation. It means "either San or El".
character: The character means 'zero or more occurrences' of the preceding character or group. In our case, it means zero or more repetitions of the characters n , a , or S in "San" or l or E in "El". In this case, ^(San|El)
suffices to find city names that start with "San" or "El" because the city name is by definition more than just those three or two letters.
Let's examine why the other options are incorrect:
Option A: Select from Sales where city_name ~ ‘$(San|El) ’; The $ symbol means the end of the string. So this query would look for city names that end with 'San' or 'El' or any repetition of their constituting characters. Option C: Select from Sales where city_name ~’$(San&El) ’; The & symbol does not have the intended logical
OR behavior in regular expressions. It's not a standard regex operator for alternation. This would likely result in no matches or an error. Option D: Select from Sales where city_name ~ ‘^(San&El) ’; Similar to option C, the & is not a valid regex for
"or".
In Summary:
Option B correctly uses the ^ anchor to ensure that the match occurs at the beginning of the string, the | operator for alternation (OR), and the ~ operator for regular expression matching in Redshift, making it the only option that fulfills the requirements.
Supporting Documentation:
Amazon Redshift Regular Expression Functions: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/redshift/latest/dg/pattern-matching-conditions-like.html POSIX Regular Expressions: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/functions-matching.html (Redshift's regex engine is based on POSIX)



A company needs to send customer call data from its on-premises PostgreSQL database to AWS to generate near real-time insights. The solution must capture and load updates from operational data stores that run in the PostgreSQL database. The data changes continuously. A data engineer configures an AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) ongoing replication task. The task reads changes in near real time from the PostgreSQL source database transaction logs for each table. The task then sends the data to an Amazon Redshift cluster for processing. The data engineer discovers latency issues during the change data capture (CDC) of the task. The data engineer thinks that the PostgreSQL source database is causing the high latency.
Which solution will confirm that the PostgreSQL database is the source of the high latency?

  1. Use Amazon CloudWatch to monitor the DMS task. Examine the CDCIncomingChanges metric to identify delays in the CDC from the source database.
  2. Verify that logical replication of the source database is configured in the postgresql.conf configuration file.
  3. Enable Amazon CloudWatch Logs for the DMS endpoint of the source database. Check for error messages.
  4. Use Amazon CloudWatch to monitor the DMS task. Examine the CDCLatencySource metric to identify delays in the CDC from the source database.

Answer(s): D

Explanation:

The correct answer is D because it directly addresses the problem of identifying latency at the source database using the appropriate metric within CloudWatch.
Here's a detailed justification:
The problem describes a data pipeline with latency issues during Change Data Capture (CDC) from an on-premises PostgreSQL database to Amazon Redshift using AWS DMS. The objective is to confirm if the PostgreSQL database is the source of the high latency.
Option D, "Use Amazon CloudWatch to monitor the DMS task. Examine the CDCLatencySource metric to identify delays in the CDC from the source database," is the most direct and appropriate solution. AWS DMS emits metrics to CloudWatch that provide insights into the replication process. The CDCLatencySource metric specifically measures the time delay between a change being made in the source database and the moment AWS DMS reads that change from the source's transaction logs. A high CDCLatencySource value would directly confirm that the PostgreSQL database is indeed the source of the latency. This isolates the problem to the source side of the replication process.
Option A, while also using CloudWatch and the DMS task, suggests examining the CDCIncomingChanges metric. This metric represents the number of CDC events received by the DMS task, not the latency at the source. It indicates the volume of changes, not where the delay occurs. A high volume could contribute to latency elsewhere, but not confirm source latency.
Option B suggests verifying the logical replication configuration in postgresql.conf .
While crucial for CDC,
simply confirming the configuration doesn't pinpoint latency. Incorrect configuration could cause latency, but the configuration being correct doesn't rule out the PostgreSQL database as a latency source (e.g., resource constraints, lock contention).
Option C proposes enabling CloudWatch Logs for the DMS source endpoint and checking for error messages.
While error messages can indicate issues, they aren't specific to measuring latency. The absence of errors does not guarantee the absence of latency issues within the PostgreSQL database (e.g., slow queries, resource limitations). The issue is not necessarily an error but potential slow performance at the source database.Links for further research:
AWS DMS Metrics: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dms/latest/userguide/CHAP_Monitoring.Metrics.html Monitoring AWS DMS Tasks: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/dms/latest/userguide/CHAP_Monitoring.html



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