Question

Difficulty: MediumAWS Pricing Models

A weather forecasting organization is planning to migrate its computing workloads to Amazon EC2. The organization has two main requirements:

1. A base level of virtual machines must run continuously 24/7 to ingest global satellite telemetry data and host the public forecasting website.
2. A large-scale data simulation job runs periodically to model weekly storm patterns. The simulation is stateless, can be paused and resumed without data loss, and is not time-critical.

Which two Amazon EC2 pricing models should the organization combine to meet these requirements at the lowest cost? (Select TWO.)

  1. Savings PlansAnswer
  2. Spot InstancesAnswer
  3. C
    On-Demand Instances
  4. D
    Dedicated Hosts
  5. E
    On-Demand Capacity Reservations

Answer

The organization should combine Savings Plans for the 24/7 baseline telemetry and website hosting workloads, and Spot Instances for the stateless, flexible storm simulation jobs.
The correct pricing models are Savings Plans and Spot Instances. Savings Plans offer deep discounts for consistent, 24/7 baseline usage over a 1- or 3-year commitment, which matches the continuous telemetry and website hosting requirements. Spot Instances utilize spare EC2 capacity at up to a 90% discount, making them the most cost-effective option for the stateless, non-time-critical weather simulation batch jobs that can handle interruptions.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the first workload requirement.
The telemetry ingestion and public forecasting website run 24/7 continuously, indicating a predictable, steady-state baseline.
Steady-state workloads running continuously benefit most from commitment-based pricing models like Savings Plans or Reserved Instances to minimize costs.
2
Analyze the second workload requirement.
The storm simulation is stateless, can handle interruptions, and is not time-critical.
Fault-tolerant, flexible batch processing workloads are ideal candidates for Spot Instances, which offer the highest discount (up to 90% off On-Demand rates) in exchange for potential interruption.
3
Select the correct combination of EC2 pricing models.
Savings Plans and Spot Instances.
This combination ensures the lowest possible cost for both the steady-state baseline and the interruptible batch processing workloads.

Key Concept

AWS EC2 pricing models optimization based on workload characteristics.
Estimated Time:1m 15s
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