AWS Service for SQL Queries on Amazon S3
A company needs to use SQL syntax to perform a direct query of objects in an Amazon S3 bucket. Which AWS service can the company use to meet this requirement?
Community Votes
100% of anonymous learners picked answer B. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.
Community Insight
This question tests knowledge of AWS analytics services, specifically identifying the tool designed for ad-hoc SQL queries directly against S3 objects.
Amazon Athena is the serverless interactive query service that enables direct SQL analysis of data stored in Amazon S3 without requiring infrastructure management.
Learners often confuse Amazon Athena with AWS Glue, but Glue is primarily an ETL and data cataloging service, whereas Athena is the query engine.
Community Discussion (4 comments)
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Expert Analysis
Why the Answer Is Correct
Amazon Athena is a serverless, interactive query service that makes it easy to analyze data directly in Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) using standard SQL. You do not need to install or manage any infrastructure; you simply point Athena at your data in S3, and it executes the queries and returns results in seconds.Why the Other Options Are Wrong
AWS Glue is a fully managed extract, transform, and load (ETL) service used to prepare and load data for analytics, not primarily for direct ad-hoc querying. Amazon Lambda is a compute service for running code in response to events, lacking built-in SQL query capabilities for S3. Amazon Kinesis is used for real-time data streaming and processing, not for historical SQL queries on static S3 objects.Community Comment Notes
The community consensus strongly supports option B, with multiple users confirming that Athena is the correct choice because it allows for standard SQL queries on S3 data. As one user noted, "Athena is for SQL queries," highlighting its core function as an interactive query service.Exam Strategy
When asked about querying data directly in S3 using SQL, immediately think of Amazon Athena. Distinguish it from Glue by remembering that Glue handles ETL and catalogs, while Athena handles the actual querying interface.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is AWS Glue incorrect for direct SQL queries?
AWS Glue is an ETL service focused on extracting, transforming, and loading data, and creating a Data Catalog. It does not provide a direct interface for ad-hoc SQL querying like Athena does.
Can I use Amazon Redshift for this requirement?
While Redshift Spectrum allows querying S3 data, it requires managing a Redshift cluster. Athena is serverless and better fits the 'direct query' requirement without infrastructure overhead.
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