Chapter 2 of 4 · AWS DEA-C01
Data Store Management
Choosing stores, S3 lakes, Redshift, DynamoDB, the Glue Data Catalog, lifecycle and data modeling.
- 7topics
- 33 minfast track
- 2diagrams and exhibits
- 26%of the exam
Topics in this chapter
Take them in order, or jump to the one you need.
- 1Choosing a Data StoreMatch access pattern, scale, latency and cost to the right AWS data store, comparing S3, Redshift, DynamoDB, RDS, Aurora…5 min
- 2S3 Data Lake DesignDesign an Amazon S3 data lake with raw, curated and consumption zones, sensible prefixes and partitions, Apache Iceberg tables…Diagram5 min
- 3Amazon Redshift Data WarehouseUnderstand Redshift architecture, provisioned and serverless modes, distribution and sort keys, COPY and UNLOAD, Spectrum, data…Diagram5 min
- 4DynamoDB and NoSQL StoresLearn DynamoDB keys, capacity modes, indexes, streams, TTL and S3 exports, and when OpenSearch, Neptune or other purpose built…4 min
- 5Glue Data Catalog and CrawlersLearn how the AWS Glue Data Catalog, crawlers and partition management give Athena, Redshift Spectrum, EMR and Glue jobs one…5 min
- 6Data Lifecycle ManagementManage data lifecycles on AWS with S3 storage classes, lifecycle rules, versioning, Object Lock, DynamoDB TTL, Redshift cold…4 min
- 7Data Modeling and Schema EvolutionDesign data models for relational, warehouse and NoSQL stores, use indexing and partitioning, convert schemas with SCT and DMS…5 min
About this chapter
What this chapter covers
This chapter is about where data lives and how it is organized. It covers choosing the right store, describing the data in a catalog, managing it over time and designing its structure.
It has four outline topics: choosing a data store, understanding data cataloging, managing the data lifecycle, and designing data models with schema evolution. The first topic is broad, so it takes four pages of its own.
The chapter follows the second domain of the AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate DEA-C01 exam guide.
How the topics fit together
Data is stored, described, aged and shaped, and each step depends on the one before.
- Choosing a store starts from the access pattern, then compares S3, Redshift, DynamoDB and the purpose built databases.
- S3 data lakes show how to lay out zones, prefixes and table formats.
- Redshift and DynamoDB each get a page because their design choices (keys, loading, capacity) are tested often.
- The Glue Data Catalog gives every engine the same view of the data.
- Lifecycle controls cost and retention as data ages.
- Data modeling covers schemas, conversion between engines and safe change over time.
Start every store question from the access pattern. Volume alone rarely decides the answer.
How to use these pages
Each topic page has the same shape, so you can skim for what you need.
- What it is: the idea in plain words.
- How it works: the mechanism, with diagrams and examples.
- What to remember for the exam: the facts to memorise.
- Common mistakes: the classic traps.
- Check yourself: three questions to test your understanding.
The first page is a comparison guide, so return to its table when you revise other pages. Try the SQL and CLI examples in a sandbox account to see how the settings behave.
Ready for more practice?
The full AWS DEA-C01 question bank has 845 questions, with timed practice exams and an explanation for every answer.
This study guide is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by AWS. Vendor names, certification names and exam codes are trademarks of their respective owners and are used for identification only.