Amazon Redshift ALL Distribution Style for Small Tables
A company's data engineer needs to optimize the performance of table SQL queries. The company stores data in an Amazon Redshift cluster. The data engineer cannot increase the size of the cluster because of budget constraints. The company stores the data in multiple tables and loads the data by using the EVEN distribution style. Some tables are hundreds of gigabytes in size. Other tables are less than 10 MB in size. Which solution will meet these requirements?
Community Votes
100% of anonymous learners picked answer C. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.
Community Insight
The exam tests knowledge of Redshift table design, specifically that the ALL distribution style is optimal for small, rarely updated tables to avoid data redistribution during joins.
This question addresses optimizing Amazon Redshift query performance without scaling cluster size by selecting the correct distribution style for tables of varying sizes.
Learners often select Option D because it sounds comprehensive, but specifying partition keys is not a standard Redshift optimization technique in this context, and primary/foreign keys do not drive distribution.
Community Discussion (4 comments)
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Expert Analysis
Why the Answer Is Correct
Option C is the correct solution because the ALL distribution style replicates the entire table on every node in the cluster. For small tables (less than 10 MB), this overhead is negligible, but it eliminates the need to redistribute data during join operations, significantly boosting performance. The constraint 'rarely updated' is critical because updating an ALL-distributed table requires modifying copies on all nodes, which is expensive.Why the Other Options Are Wrong
Option A is incorrect because EVEN distribution spreads data randomly, causing massive data movement (shuffle) during joins between large and small tables. Option B is inefficient because storing full copies of large tables on every node wastes storage and increases maintenance costs unnecessarily. Option D is invalid because Amazon Redshift does not support partition keys; it uses sort keys for ordering and distribution keys for placement.Community Comment Notes
Community consensus strongly supports C, with users noting that 'ALL distribution is appropriate only for relatively slow moving tables'. One commenter highlighted that this approach 'eliminates the need for data redistribution or shuffling', while another asked 'why not D?', pointing out that some learners mistakenly believe partitioning exists in Redshift.Official Reference
Exam Strategy
Always check table size and update frequency when choosing distribution styles. Use ALL for small lookup tables (<10MB) and EVEN or KEY for large fact tables.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can't we use partition keys in Redshift?
Amazon Redshift does not support partitioning like other databases; it uses distribution keys for data placement and sort keys for I/O optimization.
When should I use KEY distribution instead of EVEN?
Use KEY distribution when joining large tables on common columns to keep related data together on the same node, reducing shuffle overhead.
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