Question

Difficulty: MediumIdentify design principles of the AWS Cloud

A software company is planning to migrate its database workload to the AWS Cloud. Currently, database administrators spend several hours each week configuring database replication, managing operating system updates, and executing manual backups on local servers. To eliminate these tasks, the company decides to migrate to Amazon Aurora, allowing AWS to manage these operational responsibilities automatically.

Which AWS Cloud design principle does this decision directly represent?

  1. A
    Tightly coupled components
  2. B
    Over-provisioning for peak demand
  3. Services, not serversAnswer
  4. D
    Manual capacity adjustments

Answer

Services, not servers
The correct answer is the option stating 'Services, not servers'. This AWS design principle encourages using managed services (such as Amazon Aurora) to reduce operational complexity. By choosing a managed database service, the organization delegates server maintenance, OS patching, and backups to AWS, freeing up internal teams to focus on core business applications.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the operational requirements described in the scenario.
The company's database administrators are manually performing system-level administration tasks (OS patching, database backups, replication) on self-managed servers.
Understanding the current manual tasks helps identify the administrative overhead that needs to be eliminated.
2
Evaluate the proposed solution (migrating to Amazon Aurora).
Amazon Aurora is a fully managed relational database service that automates provisioning, patching, and backups.
Identifying the nature of the target service helps determine which cloud design principle applies.
3
Match the transition from self-managed servers to managed services with AWS Cloud design principles.
Using managed services instead of managing virtual servers directly aligns with the 'Services, not servers' design principle.
This confirms that the primary goal of the migration is to offload operational management to AWS.

Key Concept

The AWS Cloud design principle of choosing managed services over self-managed servers to reduce administrative overhead and operational effort.
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