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Home/Questions/Cloud/Tools/What are the limitations of AWS Glue and Lambda?

What are the limitations of AWS Glue and Lambda?

Cloud/Toolseasy0.5 min readPremium

**Glue**: 15-min DPU billing minimum—short jobs still pay for 15 min. Cold start 2–10 min for first run. Max 100K DPU-hours per account (request increase). Not for sub-minute jobs. Job bookmark has limitations (only Append mode for some sources). **Lambda**: 15 min max duration;...

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Frequency
Low
Asked at 1 company
Category
179
questions in Cloud/Tools
Difficulty Split
104E|27M|48H
in this category
Total Bank
1,863
across 7 categories
Asked at these companies
Freecharge
Key Concepts Tested
etl

Why This Question Matters

This easy-level Cloud/Tools question appears frequently in data engineering interviews at companies like Freecharge. While less common, it tests deeper understanding that distinguishes strong candidates. Mastering the underlying concepts (etl) will help you answer variations of this question confidently.

How to Approach This

Start by clearly defining the core concept being asked about. Interviewers want to see that you understand the fundamentals before diving into implementation details. Structure your answer with a definition, then explain the practical application with a concise example.

Expert Answer
109 words

Glue: 15-min DPU billing minimum—short jobs still pay for 15 min. Cold start 2–10 min for first run. Max 100K DPU-hours per account (request increase). Not for sub-minute jobs. Job bookmark has limitations (only Append mode for some sources). Lambda: 15 min max duration; 10 GB memory; 6 MB payload (synchronous); 256 KB (Step Functions). Concurrency limits (1000 default, request more). Not for multi-GB data; use Glue/EMR. Cold start for VPC Lambdas. When to use which: Lambda for triggers, small transforms, orchestration. Glue for batch ETL, large data. Cost: Glue minimum makes small jobs expensive; Lambda is cheap for small, frequent. At 1 TB, Glue; at 100 MB/event, Lambda.

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According to DataEngPrep.tech, this is one of the most frequently asked Cloud/Tools interview questions, reported at 1 company. DataEngPrep.tech maintains a curated database of 1,863+ real data engineering interview questions across 7 categories, verified by industry professionals.

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