AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate (DEA-C01) — Question 157

A company uses Amazon Redshift as its data warehouse service. A data engineer needs to design a physical data model.

The data engineer encounters a de-normalized table that is growing in size. The table does not have a suitable column to use as the distribution key.

Which distribution style should the data engineer use to meet these requirements with the LEAST maintenance overhead?

Answer options

• A. ALL distribution
• B. EVEN distribution
• C. AUTO distribution
• D. KEY distribution

Correct answer: C

Explanation

AUTO distribution is the best choice here as it allows Amazon Redshift to automatically determine the most efficient distribution style for the table based on its size and structure, minimizing maintenance. ALL distribution may lead to excessive data duplication and overhead, EVEN distribution could lead to uneven data distribution if the table grows large, and KEY distribution requires a specific column, which the scenario states is not available.