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1473 questions

Question 881Question

A financial services company is designing a new cloud application. The application requires two distinct data storage tiers: a highly available relational database that can scale automatically to handle transactional records, and a flexible, low-latency NoSQL database to store unstructured user preference metadata. Additionally, the company wants to minimize administrative overhead while adhering to AWS architectural best practices. Which TWO of the following services or deployment strategies should the company choose?

Select all that apply

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Answer: Amazon Aurora to provide a fully managed, auto-scaling relational database engine.; Amazon DynamoDB to provide a fully managed, low-latency NoSQL database for the user preference metadata.

Answer

Amazon Aurora and Amazon DynamoDB are the correct database services for these requirements.
Amazon Aurora meets the requirement for a highly available, auto-scaling relational database for transactional data. Amazon DynamoDB satisfies the requirement for a low-latency, fully managed NoSQL database for unstructured user preference metadata.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the requirement for a highly available relational database for transactional records.
Identify Amazon Aurora as the optimal service.
Amazon Aurora is a fully managed relational database engine that offers auto-scaling, high availability, and performance suitable for transaction processing while reducing administrative overhead.
2
Analyze the requirement for a low-latency NoSQL database for unstructured metadata.
Identify Amazon DynamoDB as the optimal service.
Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed NoSQL database designed for single-digit millisecond latency and flexible schemas, perfect for unstructured metadata.
3
Evaluate the remaining options against the goal of minimizing administrative overhead and following AWS design principles.
Eliminate self-managed EC2 options and monolithic designs.
Deploying databases on EC2 increases administrative overhead due to manual OS patching (Shared Responsibility Model), and hosting multiple database types on a single instance violates the loose coupling principle.

Key Concept

Selecting managed database services based on data model requirements (relational vs. NoSQL) and adhering to the AWS Shared Responsibility Model and loose coupling principles.
Question 882Question

A company is migrating its customer order processing system to AWS. The system requires a relational database that supports standard SQL queries and transactional integrity (ACID compliance). The company wants to minimize administrative overhead by offloading operating system patching and database backups to AWS. They also want to avoid a monolithic design where transactional processing and historical data analytics are combined into a single database. Which AWS service should the company use to host the transactional database?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Amazon RDS

Answer

Amazon RDS
Amazon RDS is the correct choice because it is a managed relational database service that supports standard SQL and ACID transactions. It automatically handles administrative tasks like operating system patching and database backups, allowing the company to offload these operational responsibilities while maintaining a relational database structure.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the data model and transactional requirements of the application.
The application requires a relational database that supports standard SQL queries and ACID compliance.
This narrows the choice to relational database services like Amazon RDS, eliminating non-relational options like Amazon DynamoDB.
2
Evaluate the management and administrative requirements.
The database must minimize administrative overhead by offloading operating system patching and backups to AWS.
This eliminates self-managed options like hosting a database on Amazon EC2 using Amazon EBS, where the customer remains responsible for OS patching and database backups.
3
Apply loose coupling principles to separate transactional and analytical workloads.
The transactional database should be kept separate from the historical analytics warehouse.
This rules out Amazon Redshift, which is optimized for data warehousing (OLAP) rather than transactional processing (OLTP), ensuring the workloads are decoupled.

Key Concept

AWS Database Services
Question 883Question

A digital health startup is developing a mobile application to connect patients with doctors. The company wants to launch the service quickly without making significant upfront investments in physical servers or leasing data center facilities. Instead, they choose to host the application on AWS and pay only for the hourly compute resources they consume. Which benefit of the AWS Cloud is best illustrated by this scenario?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Trade fixed expense for variable expense

Answer

Trade fixed expense for variable expense
The correct answer is trading fixed expense for variable expense. By hosting the application on AWS and paying only for the hourly resources consumed, the startup avoids the significant upfront capital expenditures (fixed expenses) associated with buying physical servers and leasing data centers, substituting them with operating expenditures (variable expenses).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the scenario details.
The startup is avoiding upfront physical hardware purchases and data center leases (fixed capital expenses) and is instead paying for compute time hourly as consumed (variable operating expenses).
Identifying the financial shift in the scenario helps map it to the correct AWS Cloud benefit.
2
Evaluate the 6 benefits of AWS Cloud against the scenario.
'Trade fixed expense for variable expense' directly describes paying only for resources consumed rather than investing in physical infrastructure beforehand.
Confirming which AWS Cloud benefit matches the operational and financial behavior of the startup.

Key Concept

Shifting from capital expenditures (CapEx) to operating expenditures (OpEx) by trading fixed infrastructure costs for variable cloud consumption costs.
Question 884Question

A startup is establishing its initial AWS environment and wants to secure access controls for its development team and applications running on Amazon EC2. Which of the following actions represent AWS-recommended security best practices? (Select TWO)

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) on the AWS account root user and restrict its usage to essential account management tasks.; Define IAM roles with temporary credentials to grant applications running on Amazon EC2 instances access to other AWS resources.

Answer

The correct practices are to enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) on the root user and restrict its use, and to use IAM roles with temporary credentials for applications running on EC2 instances.
The correct options are to enable MFA on the AWS account root user and restrict its usage, and to define IAM roles with temporary credentials for applications running on EC2. These follow AWS security guidelines by locking down the root user and avoiding the use of hardcoded, permanent credentials for applications.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Review the requirements to secure developer access and EC2 applications.
Identify that developer access requires distinct credentials and applications must avoid hardcoded secret keys.
AWS security practices advise against sharing access credentials and storing static credentials in environments where they can be compromised.
2
Select the correct AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) configurations that support these principles.
Identify that enabling MFA on the root user protects the account, and assigning IAM roles to EC2 instances provides temporary credentials dynamically.
MFA prevents unauthorized root level access, and IAM roles prevent credential leaks by avoiding the use of permanent keys.

Key Concept

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) Best Practices
Question 885Question

A company is using Amazon ElastiCache (Redis OSS) to cache session data for a high-traffic web application. Under the AWS Shared Responsibility Model, which of the following are responsibilities of the customer? (Select TWO.)

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Configuring security groups to restrict network access to the cache nodes; Enabling and managing encryption in transit and Redis authentication for client access

Answer

Configuring security groups to restrict network access to the cache nodes, and enabling and managing encryption in transit and Redis authentication for client access.
For managed services like Amazon ElastiCache, AWS manages the underlying virtual machines, OS patching, and physical infrastructure. The customer is responsible for configuring access controls, such as security groups, and managing authentication and encryption options to secure data within the cache.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the AWS service type in the scenario.
Amazon ElastiCache is a managed service (Platform as a Service/PaaS model).
The division of responsibilities depends on whether a service is Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) or a managed service (PaaS).
2
Differentiate customer responsibilities from AWS responsibilities for managed services.
AWS handles underlying infrastructure, including physical security, hardware replacement, hypervisor management, and operating system patching. The customer handles configuration, data encryption settings, user authentication, and network access controls (security groups).
This alignment helps identify which tasks fall under customer ownership ('security in the cloud') vs AWS ownership ('security of the cloud').

Key Concept

Shared Responsibility Model for Managed Services
Question 886Question

A financial institution runs a legacy risk analysis batch job twice a day. The job takes approximately 45 minutes to execute and requires custom kernel-level security patches and configurations to run its proprietary simulation binary. Which AWS compute service should the institution select to host this workload?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Amazon EC2, because it offers full control over the operating system and kernel configuration, with no execution time limits.

Answer

Amazon EC2, because it offers full control over the operating system and kernel configuration, with no execution time limits.
The correct option is Amazon EC2 because it provides virtual machines where the customer has full administrative control (root access), allowing them to configure custom kernel-level patches. Additionally, Amazon EC2 has no execution timeout limits, accommodating the 45-minute runtime.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the workload's execution duration requirement.
The job runs for 45 minutes, which exceeds the 15-minute maximum limit of AWS Lambda.
This rules out standard serverless function options.
2
Analyze the operating system and infrastructure modification requirement.
The job requires custom kernel-level patches and configurations.
This rules out managed serverless container options like AWS Fargate, where the host operating system kernel is managed by AWS and inaccessible to the user.
3
Evaluate the remaining options against administrative control requirements.
Amazon EC2 provides virtual machines with complete operating system control and root access, which satisfies the need for custom kernel modifications, and has no execution time constraints.
This identifies Amazon EC2 as the only appropriate choice.

Key Concept

Selecting appropriate AWS compute services based on operational constraints and access requirements
Estimated Time:2m 0s
Question 887Question

A digital publishing company hosts its content management system on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances within a public subnet. Following a security audit, the team needs to implement a rule that blocks a specific list of malicious IP addresses from reaching any resources within that subnet. Additionally, the security team notes that the control must evaluate both inbound and outbound traffic separately since it does not automatically track connection states. Which AWS resource should the company configure to meet these requirements?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Network Access Control Lists (Network ACLs)

Answer

Network Access Control Lists (Network ACLs)
The correct answer is Network Access Control Lists (Network ACLs). Network ACLs act as a stateless firewall at the subnet level. They support both allow and deny rules (enabling the block of specific IP addresses) and require separate configuration for inbound and outbound traffic because they do not track connection states.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the requirement for blocking traffic at the subnet level.
The solution must operate at the subnet boundary to protect all resources within the subnet, ruling out instance-level controls.
Security Groups operate at the instance level, whereas Network ACLs operate at the subnet level.
2
Evaluate the requirement for blocking specific IP addresses (explicit deny).
The service must support deny rules.
Security Groups only support allow rules, meaning you cannot explicitly deny specific IP addresses. Network ACLs support both allow and deny rules.
3
Verify the connection tracking requirement (stateless vs. stateful).
The control must evaluate inbound and outbound traffic separately because it does not track connection states (stateless).
Network ACLs are stateless, requiring explicit configuration of inbound and outbound rules, which matches the scenario's requirements.

Key Concept

Stateful vs. Stateless AWS Firewall Features at Subnet and Instance Levels
Estimated Time:1m 30s
Question 888Question

A systems administrator needs to accomplish two tasks on AWS: first, define and provision a stack of resources using a repeatable template, and second, write a Python application that programmatically interacts with AWS services. Which two tools or services are designed for these tasks?

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: AWS CloudFormation; AWS Software Development Kit (AWS SDK)

Answer

AWS CloudFormation and AWS Software Development Kit (AWS SDK) are the correct tools.
AWS CloudFormation allows users to write templates to define and provision AWS infrastructure in a repeatable way. The AWS Software Development Kit (AWS SDK) provides language-specific APIs, such as Boto3 for Python, allowing users to write applications that programmatically control AWS resources.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the service suited for defining infrastructure using templates.
AWS CloudFormation is the service designed to model and set up AWS resources using templates.
This matches the requirement to provision resources using a repeatable template.
2
Identify the tool suited for programmatically interacting with AWS from within a Python application.
The AWS SDK (specifically Boto3 for Python) allows developers to write code that interacts with AWS APIs.
This matches the requirement to programmatically manage AWS resources using a programming language.

Key Concept

AWS Deployment and Operating Methods
Question 889Question

A digital media platform is migrating its video transcoding system to AWS. The system currently runs on a single high-performance server where video uploads, transcoding jobs, and metadata storage are handled by the same software process. High demand for video uploads frequently causes the entire server to run out of memory and crash, failing all ongoing transcoding jobs. The company wants to redesign this architecture on AWS using cloud design principles. Which of the following architectural changes should the company implement to align with AWS Cloud design principles? (Select TWO.)

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Decouple the upload front-end from the transcoding backend by using Amazon SQS queues to pass transcoding jobs asynchronously.; Use an Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling group to dynamically adjust the number of transcoding workers based on the length of the queue.

Answer

The correct architectural changes are to decouple the upload front-end from the transcoding backend using Amazon SQS queues, and to use an Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling group to dynamically adjust transcoding workers based on the queue length.
Decoupling the upload front-end from the transcoding backend using Amazon SQS queues ensures that the two systems operate independently. If the transcoding backend experiences a spike in load or temporary failure, the uploads can still be accepted and queued. Using an Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling group to adjust worker instances based on queue length allows the system to scale out to handle high load and scale in to save costs when there are no jobs, directly aligning with the elasticity principle.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the existing architecture's problems
The current application runs on a single server, making it a tightly coupled monolithic system with a single point of failure. It also lacks elasticity to handle traffic spikes, resulting in memory exhaustion and crashes.
Understanding the current application constraints helps identify which AWS design principles are violated and need to be applied.
2
Select options that implement loose coupling and elasticity
Using SQS introduces asynchronous processing (loose coupling), and using Auto Scaling allows the worker instances to scale dynamically (elasticity).
Applying loose coupling and elasticity ensures the system is resilient to failure and cost-efficient.

Key Concept

AWS Cloud Design Principles (Loose Coupling and Elasticity)
Question 890Question

A company's system administration team needs to implement two specific tasks on AWS:

1. Define the architecture and resource settings of a new Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) using version-controlled, reusable templates.
2. Automate a nightly task that scripts the upload of local backup logs from an on-premises administrative server to an Amazon S3 bucket.

Which of the following AWS deployment and operating methods are best suited for these respective tasks? (Select TWO.)

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: AWS CloudFormation to define and deploy the Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) infrastructure using templates; AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) to run scripts that upload files from the on-premises server

Answer

AWS CloudFormation is used to define and deploy infrastructure as code, while the AWS CLI is used to write scripts to automate tasks such as file uploads.
AWS CloudFormation is the service designed to model and provision AWS infrastructure deployments using templates. The AWS CLI allows administrators to control services from a command-line shell and automate tasks using custom scripts, making it ideal for automating file transfers from on-premises environments.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the first requirement: defining a VPC configuration using reusable templates.
Identify AWS CloudFormation as the service that enables Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using templates.
CloudFormation allows declarative modeling of AWS infrastructure using JSON or YAML, ensuring consistency and version control.
2
Analyze the second requirement: automating file uploads to S3 from an on-premises server via scripting.
Identify AWS CLI as the tool of choice for executing commands from scripts on administrative servers.
The AWS CLI allows administrators to write standard shell scripts that interact with AWS services like Amazon S3 without needing full programming environments required by SDKs.

Key Concept

Deployment and operating methods in AWS, including AWS CloudFormation and AWS CLI
Question 891Question

A logistics company needs to run a short database cleanup script every hour. The script takes approximately two minutes to execute. The company wants to implement this solution with the lowest possible operational overhead and pay only for the exact duration that the script runs.

Which AWS compute service should the company use to meet these requirements?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: AWS Lambda

Answer

AWS Lambda
AWS Lambda is a serverless compute service that runs code in response to triggers and manages the underlying resources. It charges only for the active run time of the script, satisfying the requirements of lowest operational overhead and paying only for the duration the script runs.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the workload requirements: hourly execution, short duration (2 minutes), low operational overhead, and a pay-per-use billing model.
Identified that the workload is short-lived, scheduled, and requires a serverless model to minimize management and costs.
This helps filter out Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) options that require continuous running costs and guest OS management.
2
Compare the suited compute services (Lambda, EC2, ECS on EC2, Lightsail) against the identified criteria.
Determined that AWS Lambda requires zero host administration and bills only for runtime, while the other options require managing underlying VMs or paying for idle time.
To select the specific AWS service that perfectly matches the operational and cost constraints.

Key Concept

Selecting the appropriate AWS compute service based on integration, scale, operational overhead, and cost model.
Question 892Question

A logistics company is migrating its containerized supply-chain application to AWS. The architecture requires two types of storage: first, a persistent, high-performance block storage volume attached to a single Amazon EC2 instance running a transaction database; second, a shared file storage system that can be mounted simultaneously by multiple EC2 instances across different Availability Zones to process configuration templates. Which two AWS storage services should the company select to meet these requirements?

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS); Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS)

Answer

Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) and Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS)
The correct choices are Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) and Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS). Amazon EBS provides persistent block-level storage designed for EC2 instances, making it the correct choice for a database root volume or transaction log. Amazon EFS provides a fully managed shared file system that can be mounted concurrently by multiple EC2 instances across different Availability Zones, satisfying the requirement for shared configuration templates.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the storage type required for the database running on a single EC2 instance.
Low-latency, persistent block storage is needed, which maps to Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS).
Amazon EBS provides block-level volumes that behave like physical hard drives attached to a single EC2 instance.
2
Identify the storage type required for shared files across multiple EC2 instances in different Availability Zones.
A fully managed shared file system is needed, which maps to Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS).
Amazon EFS supports the Network File System (NFS) protocol, allowing concurrent mounts from multiple EC2 instances across multiple AZs.

Key Concept

Distinguishing between AWS block, file, and object storage services based on access patterns and application requirements.
Estimated Time:1m 30s
Question 893Question

A global logistics enterprise is migrating its central order-processing system to AWS. The workload requires a relational database that supports complex SQL joins and strict ACID transactions across multiple tables. The database storage must scale automatically up to 128 TiB128\text{ TiB} to handle peak seasonal data. Additionally, to satisfy disaster recovery requirements, the database must replicate data to a secondary AWS Region with a recovery point objective (RPO) of seconds and a recovery time objective (RTO) of less than one minute. Which AWS service should the enterprise select to meet these requirements?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Amazon Aurora

Answer

Amazon Aurora
Amazon Aurora meets all the criteria: it is a relational database (ACID compliant, supports SQL joins), its storage engine automatically scales up to 128 TiB128\text{ TiB}, and when configured as an Aurora Global Database, it provides cross-region replication with an RPO of seconds and an RTO of under a minute.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the query workload requirements
The application requires a relational database supporting SQL joins and ACID transactions, which eliminates NoSQL options like Amazon DynamoDB.
Relational databases are required for structured schemas with complex multi-table relationships and transactional consistency.
2
Evaluate the database storage scale limits
The requirement for storage to scale up to 128 TiB128\text{ TiB} rules out standard Amazon RDS engines, which generally support up to 64 TiB64\text{ TiB}.
Amazon Aurora has a cloud-native storage engine that automatically scales storage up to 128 TiB128\text{ TiB} per database instance.
3
Evaluate disaster recovery RTO and RPO limits
The sub-minute RTO and near-instant RPO for cross-region replication require Amazon Aurora Global Databases.
Aurora Global Databases use storage-based replication to replicate data to secondary regions with typical latency of under a second and allow promoting a secondary region in less than a minute.

Key Concept

Identifying the use cases and limits of AWS relational database engines (RDS vs. Aurora) and comparing them to NoSQL and analytical databases.
Estimated Time:2m 0s
Question 894Question

A company is migrating its web application to the AWS Cloud. The current architecture relies on a single monolithic database. To align with AWS design principles, the cloud architect recommends decoupling the database tier by using a fully managed relational database for transactional customer data, and a fully managed NoSQL database for rapid, low-latency session data. Which two AWS database services should the company select to meet these requirements? (Select TWO.)

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Amazon RDS; Amazon DynamoDB

Answer

The correct answers are Amazon RDS and Amazon DynamoDB.
Amazon RDS provides a fully managed relational database platform for transactional (OLTP) workloads. Amazon DynamoDB provides a fully managed NoSQL database service optimized for low-latency key-value storage. Splitting the workloads between these two services decouples the database tier in accordance with AWS design principles.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the database type required for customer transactional data.
Relational database (OLTP) is required, which maps to Amazon RDS.
Relational databases support structured transactions with ACID compliance.
2
Identify the database type required for low-latency session data.
NoSQL key-value database is required, which maps to Amazon DynamoDB.
DynamoDB provides single-digit millisecond latency at scale for key-value pairs.

Key Concept

Distinguishing between relational (RDS) and NoSQL (DynamoDB) databases for different workloads in a decoupled architecture.
Question 895Question

A media enterprise is designing a highly resilient database architecture on AWS. The system must meet two requirements:
1. Achieve high availability with synchronous replication to prevent data loss in the event of a single data center outage.
2. Provide disaster recovery capabilities that can survive a complete regional disaster.

Which deployment strategy best satisfies these requirements while minimizing write latency for the primary database?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Deploy the primary database and its synchronous standby replica across multiple Availability Zones within a single AWS Region, and configure asynchronous replication to a secondary database in a different AWS Region.

Answer

Deploy the primary database and its synchronous standby replica across multiple Availability Zones within a single AWS Region, and configure asynchronous replication to a secondary database in a different AWS Region.
Deploying the primary database and its standby replica across multiple Availability Zones within a single AWS Region ensures high availability. Since Availability Zones are physically isolated but connected via low-latency, redundant fiber-optic networks, synchronous replication is supported with minimal impact on write latency. To survive a regional disaster, data must be replicated to a different AWS Region. Because of the latency introduced by geographic distance, this replication must be asynchronous to avoid slowing down writes on the the primary database.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Evaluate the requirement for high availability and synchronous replication to survive a single data center outage.
Identify that Availability Zones (AZs) within a single AWS Region are physically isolated but connected by low-latency networks, making them the correct choice for synchronous replication.
Synchronous replication requires low network latency (typically sub-millisecond to few milliseconds) to avoid delaying application writes.
2
Evaluate the requirement to survive a complete regional disaster.
Identify that surviving a regional disaster requires replicating data to a geographically separate AWS Region.
Since a regional disaster can affect all Availability Zones in that Region, data must reside in a completely different Region to ensure recovery.
3
Determine the correct replication method between the primary Region and the disaster recovery Region.
Select asynchronous replication for cross-region data transfer.
The geographical distance between AWS Regions introduces significant latency. Synchronous replication across Regions would cause unacceptable write latency on the primary database.

Key Concept

AWS Regions and Availability Zones replication characteristics
Question 896Question

A ride-sharing company is deploying an application on AWS that processes passenger location coordinates. To ensure data privacy, the developer wants to encrypt this coordinate data while it is transmitted from the passenger's mobile app to the application backend on AWS. Under the AWS Shared Responsibility Model, which of the following is the customer's responsibility in this scenario?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Configuring SSL/TLS certificates and protocols on the application endpoints

Answer

Configuring SSL/TLS certificates and protocols on the application endpoints
Under the AWS Shared Responsibility Model, the customer is responsible for protecting data in transit ('Security in the Cloud'). This includes configuring SSL/TLS certificates and secure protocols (like HTTPS) on their application endpoints, such as load balancers, API gateways, or EC2 instances.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the security requirement: the company needs to encrypt coordinate data in transit between mobile apps and the AWS backend.
Identified encryption in transit as the primary security goal.
Understanding the context helps determine which security controls are applicable.
2
Apply the AWS Shared Responsibility Model to data in transit.
Determine that while AWS secures the underlying physical network infrastructure, the customer is responsible for configuring encryption protocols on their logical endpoints.
This isolates the boundary between AWS infrastructure security and customer data/application configuration.
3
Identify the correct option that reflects this customer-side configuration.
Configuring SSL/TLS certificates on endpoints like Application Load Balancers or API Gateways matches the customer's responsibility.
This implements the required encryption in transit at the application layer.

Key Concept

Shared Responsibility Model for Data in Transit
Estimated Time:1m 0s
Question 897Question

A healthcare organization is migrating an imaging application to AWS. The application requires a shared storage solution that can be mounted concurrently by hundreds of Amazon EC2 instances distributed across multiple Availability Zones. The files must be accessible via standard file system protocols (POSIX-compliant), and the storage capacity must scale automatically as images are uploaded. To minimize costs, any images not accessed for 30 days must be transitioned to a lower-cost tier, but they must still be available for immediate, millisecond-range retrieval when requested by a clinician. Which storage solution should the organization implement?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) with EFS Lifecycle Management configured to transition files to the Infrequent Access (IA) storage class.

Answer

Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) with EFS Lifecycle Management configured to transition files to the Infrequent Access (IA) storage class.
Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) provides serverless, fully elastic file storage that supports the POSIX standard and can be mounted concurrently by hundreds of EC2 instances across multiple Availability Zones. EFS Lifecycle Management automatically transitions files that have not been accessed for 30 days to EFS Infrequent Access (IA), which reduces storage costs while still delivering millisecond-range retrieval latencies.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the primary storage architecture requirement (block, file, or object storage).
The application requires a POSIX-compliant shared file system that can be mounted concurrently by hundreds of EC2 instances across multiple Availability Zones.
This rules out Amazon S3, which is an object store rather than a file system, and limits the choice to file-based solutions.
2
Evaluate the Multi-Availability Zone (AZ) and scalability constraints.
The solution must support concurrent access across multiple AZs and scale storage capacity automatically as files are added or deleted.
Amazon EFS naturally supports concurrent mounting across multiple AZs and is fully elastic, whereas Amazon EBS volumes are localized to a single AZ (even with Multi-Attach) and do not dynamically scale down.
3
Analyze cost optimization and retrieval latency requirements.
Files inactive for 30 days must transition to a lower-cost tier while maintaining millisecond-range retrieval latencies.
EFS Lifecycle Management transitions inactive files to EFS IA (Infrequent Access), which reduces storage costs while still delivering millisecond retrieval times, unlike cold archival tiers that require minutes or hours to retrieve data.

Key Concept

Amazon EFS is a serverless, fully elastic, POSIX-compliant file system designed for shared access across multiple Availability Zones, featuring lifecycle management to optimize costs while keeping data immediately accessible.
Question 898Question

A company is building a high-performance computing (HPC) application on AWS that runs across a fleet of Linux-based Amazon EC2 instances. The application has two distinct storage requirements: first, it requires high-throughput, lowest-latency block storage for storing temporary scratch files that are discarded when the instances terminate; second, it requires a shared, POSIX-compliant directory structure that all EC2 instances in the fleet can mount simultaneously to read and write application configuration files. Which AWS storage solutions should the company select to meet these requirements? (Select TWO.)

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Amazon EC2 Instance Store to serve as the low-latency block storage for temporary scratch files; Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) to serve as the shared, POSIX-compliant file system for the fleet

Answer

The correct answers are Amazon EC2 Instance Store to serve as the low-latency block storage for temporary scratch files, and Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) to serve as the shared, POSIX-compliant file system for the fleet.
The correct options are Amazon EC2 Instance Store and Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS). Amazon EC2 Instance Store provides temporary, low-latency block storage directly attached to the host instance, making it ideal for scratch space. Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) offers a shared, POSIX-compliant file system that allows multiple EC2 instances to mount and access it simultaneously.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the first requirement: high-performance, low-latency temporary block storage for scratch files that are deleted upon instance termination.
Identify Amazon EC2 Instance Store as the service providing temporary, host-attached block storage with the lowest latency.
Instance Store is specifically designed for temporary workloads where data persistence is not required beyond the instance lifespan.
2
Analyze the second requirement: a shared, POSIX-compliant directory structure that multiple EC2 instances can mount simultaneously.
Identify Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) as the service providing a scalable, shared file system supporting the NFS protocol.
EFS is a managed, shared file system that allows thousands of EC2 instances to access the same directory path concurrently, complying with POSIX standards.

Key Concept

Selecting appropriate AWS storage services based on access patterns, durability requirements, and file systems.
Question 899Question

A shipping and logistics company is planning to migrate its tracking systems to the AWS Cloud. The finance team wants to understand the economic advantages of this transition compared to their traditional on-premises data center.

Which of the following are primary financial benefits of migrating to the AWS Cloud? (Select TWO).

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Replacing upfront capital infrastructure costs with variable, consumption-based operating expenses; Eliminating the need to estimate resource capacity requirements by leveraging dynamic scaling

Answer

Replacing upfront capital infrastructure costs with variable, consumption-based operating expenses, and eliminating the need to estimate resource capacity requirements by leveraging dynamic scaling
The correct benefits are replacing upfront capital infrastructure costs with variable, consumption-based operating expenses (shifting from CapEx to OpEx) and eliminating the need to estimate resource capacity requirements by leveraging dynamic scaling (elasticity). These two features allow companies to reduce upfront hardware spending and avoid paying for idle, over-provisioned capacity.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the financial transition from on-premises hosting to AWS Cloud resources.
Identify that upfront hardware procurement (CapEx) is replaced by variable consumption-based billing (OpEx).
This represents a fundamental shift in cloud economics that reduces upfront risks.
2
Analyze how elasticity affects resource estimation and costs.
Identify that dynamic scaling matches resource supply with demand, removing the need to pre-allocate capacity for peak loads.
Elasticity prevents capital wastage on idle resources.

Key Concept

Shifting from capital expenses to operational expenses and leveraging elasticity to eliminate guessing capacity.
Estimated Time:1m 0s
Question 900Question

A healthcare provider deploys AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory (AWS Managed Microsoft AD) to manage employee access to clinical applications. Under the AWS Shared Responsibility Model, which two tasks are the sole responsibility of the customer? (Select TWO.)

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Answer: Creating and managing organizational units (OUs), user accounts, and group memberships within the directory; Configuring Group Policy Objects (GPOs) to enforce security compliance on domain-joined instances

Answer

Creating and managing organizational units (OUs), user accounts, and group memberships within the directory, as well as configuring Group Policy Objects (GPOs) to enforce security compliance on domain-joined instances, are the responsibility of the customer.
Under the AWS Shared Responsibility Model for managed services, AWS manages the host environment, operating system patching, and domain controller hardware availability. The customer retains full control over the logical administration of the directory, which includes managing directory objects (users, groups, organizational units) and configuring policies (such as GPOs) for domain-joined resources.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the service model in use.
AWS Managed Microsoft AD is a managed directory service.
Managed services shift infrastructure and platform maintenance duties (like OS patching and hardware replication) to AWS, leaving data and access configuration duties to the customer.
2
Evaluate operational actions against the Shared Responsibility Model boundary.
Administrative actions inside the directory (managing users, groups, and GPOs) belong to the customer, while maintenance of domain controller servers belongs to AWS.
AWS secures the infrastructure running the service (security 'of' the cloud), while the customer secures the data and configurations put into the service (security 'in' the cloud).

Key Concept

For managed services like AWS Managed Microsoft AD, AWS handles host deployment, patching, physical security, and replication of domain controllers, while the customer is responsible for directory administrative tasks, user and group management, and policy configurations.
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