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Difficulty: MediumAWS Pricing Models

A financial services startup is deploying two workloads on Amazon EC2. The first is a core transaction ledger database that must run continuously with predictable performance and cannot tolerate any service interruptions. The second is a high-throughput, containerized credit-scoring batch analysis job that is stateless, can be safely paused and resumed, and is scheduled to run overnight. Which two of the following EC2 pricing models should the company select to minimize costs for these workloads?

  1. Savings Plans to host the core transaction ledger database to benefit from reduced rates for a consistent amount of compute usage.Answer
  2. Spot Instances to run the credit-scoring batch analysis to take advantage of spare EC2 capacity at steep discounts.Answer
  3. C
    On-Demand Instances to run the credit-scoring batch analysis to prevent any interruption or termination of the overnight jobs.
  4. D
    Dedicated Hosts to run the credit-scoring batch analysis to ensure complete physical isolation and the lowest possible hourly compute rate.
  5. E
    Reserved Instances to host the credit-scoring batch analysis with a 3-year commitment to maximize cost savings for the batch workloads.

Answer

Savings Plans should be used for the core transaction ledger database to benefit from reduced rates for consistent usage, and Spot Instances should be used for the credit-scoring batch analysis to utilize spare compute capacity at a lower cost.
The correct pricing strategy uses Savings Plans for the continuous, steady-state transaction database, which provides a significant discount over On-Demand rates in exchange for a commitment to consistent compute usage. For the credit-scoring batch analysis, Spot Instances are the optimal choice because the job is stateless and can tolerate interruptions, allowing the company to run it at a fraction of the cost using spare capacity.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the requirements for the first workload (core transaction ledger database).
The workload runs continuously, requires predictable performance, and cannot tolerate interruptions.
This steady-state, continuous database workload is ideal for commitment-based discount models like Savings Plans or Reserved Instances to minimize cost.
2
Analyze the requirements for the second workload (credit-scoring batch analysis).
The workload is containerized, stateless, runs overnight, and can tolerate interruptions (paused and resumed).
Because the workload is fault-tolerant and flexible, Spot Instances are the most cost-effective choice, offering up to a 90% discount by utilizing spare EC2 capacity.
3
Combine the optimal pricing models to select the two correct choices.
Select the option for Savings Plans for the database, and the option for Spot Instances for the batch job.
This combination achieves the lowest cost while meeting the technical requirements of both workloads.

Key Concept

Selecting the optimal Amazon EC2 pricing model based on workload characteristics (steady-state vs. fault-tolerant/intermittent).
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Topics

AWS Pricing Models

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