Examkin

Cloud Concepts

358 questions

All types358Multiple choice180Multiple select178
Question 61Question →

A gaming company is designing a global multiplayer game backend on AWS. The backend must handle highly volatile traffic spikes, process game logs for analytics, and update player profiles without causing game-play interruption if any downstream reporting service experiences an outage. The engineering team wants to strictly adhere to the AWS Cloud design principles of loose coupling and elasticity. Which of the following design choices should the company implement to meet these requirements? (Select TWO.)

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Implement an Amazon EventBridge event bus to route game events asynchronously to decoupled downstream services, such as analytics and leaderboards.; Deploy the game session manager using an Auto Scaling group of Amazon EC2 instances that scales dynamically based on real-time player connection metrics.

Answer

Implementing an Amazon EventBridge event bus to route game events asynchronously to decoupled downstream services, and deploying the game session manager using an Auto Scaling group of Amazon EC2 instances that scales dynamically based on real-time player connection metrics.
The correct design choices are routing events asynchronously via Amazon EventBridge and scaling the session manager dynamically with an Auto Scaling group. Asynchronous routing decouples independent components so that a failure in one does not cascade. Dynamic scaling ensures elasticity by automatically provisioning resources to match real-time demand.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the architectural requirements for loose coupling to prevent downstream outages from disrupting the main gameplay loop.
Determine that communication between the core game session manager and downstream services (analytics and leaderboards) must be asynchronous and event-driven.
Asynchronous routing prevents cascading failures and decouples the services, satisfying the loose coupling principle.
2
Analyze the architectural requirements for elasticity to handle volatile traffic spikes efficiently.
Determine that compute resource capacity must scale dynamically in response to real-time load, rather than using fixed pre-provisioned assets.
Dynamic scaling aligns resource consumption and costs with actual demand, satisfying the elasticity principle.
3
Evaluate the choices to identify correct implementations and eliminate anti-patterns.
Identify Amazon EventBridge asynchronous routing and Auto Scaling group deployment as correct answers. Monolithic consolidation, synchronous writes, and fixed-capacity fleets are flagged as violations of AWS design principles.
This isolates the options that demonstrate loose coupling and elasticity.

Key Concept

AWS Cloud Design Principles: Loose Coupling and Elasticity
Question 62Question →

A healthcare provider wants to migrate its legacy on-premises billing system to the AWS Cloud. During the planning phase, the IT team decides to discard the existing custom-built software and instead subscribe to a fully managed, equivalent Software as a Service (SaaS) application available on the AWS Marketplace. Which cloud migration strategy does this decision represent?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Repurchasing

Answer

Repurchasing
Repurchasing (also known as drop-and-shop) is the strategy where a company decides to abandon its legacy system and purchase a commercial Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, often from the AWS Marketplace, to replace it.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the migration scenario described in the stem.
The company is abandoning its custom-built billing software and replacing it with a fully managed SaaS application from the AWS Marketplace.
Understanding the core actions of the migration helps classify it under one of the 6 Rs migration strategies.
2
Compare the scenario against the definitions of the 6 Rs migration strategies.
Repurchasing is defined as moving to a different product, typically a SaaS model, and retiring the existing system.
This matches the decision to discard the custom software and subscribe to an equivalent SaaS solution.

Key Concept

Repurchasing migration strategy
Estimated Time:45s
Question 63Question →

A municipal transit authority plans to migrate its legacy on-premises customer ticketing database to the AWS Cloud. The database currently runs on a self-managed PostgreSQL engine. To reduce operational overhead associated with patching, backups, and operating system maintenance without altering the application code or schema, the authority decides to migrate the database to Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) for PostgreSQL. Which migration strategy is this organization employing?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Replatforming

Answer

Replatforming
Replatforming is the correct migration strategy because it involves taking an existing application and moving it to the cloud while introducing some level of optimization, such as using a managed service like Amazon RDS, without modifying the underlying application architecture.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the migration scenario details.
The transit authority is migrating an existing PostgreSQL database to Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL to reduce management tasks while keeping application code and database schema unchanged.
This establishes that the core code is not being rewritten (eliminating refactoring) and the software is not being replaced by a third-party SaaS solution (eliminating repurchasing).
2
Compare the action taken to the definitions of Rehosting and Replatforming.
Moving to Amazon RDS introduces a platform change (from self-managed to AWS-managed) to optimize operations, which is the definition of Replatforming (lift-tinker-and-shift). Rehosting would mean running the database on Amazon EC2 with no operational optimizations to the platform itself.
This confirms Replatforming as the correct strategy.

Key Concept

Replatforming Migration Strategy
Estimated Time:1m 0s
Question 64Question →

A financial services company is planning to migrate a core application to the AWS Cloud. The application experiences predictable spikes in demand during the first three days of each month, requiring ten times the standard compute capacity. Under their current on-premises model, the company must maintain hardware provisioned for these peak loads, leading to high capital expenditures and underutilized servers for the rest of the month.

Which of the following AWS Cloud benefits directly address these operational and financial challenges? (Select TWO)

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Trading fixed expense for variable expense, allowing the company to pay only for the resources they consume instead of investing heavily in data centers and servers.; Stopping guessing capacity, ensuring the company can scale up automatically to meet the monthly three-day demand peak and scale back down during quiet periods.

Answer

The correct benefits are trading fixed expense for variable expense and stopping guessing capacity.
The correct answers are the options describing 'Trading fixed expense for variable expense' and 'Stopping guessing capacity'. Shifting from fixed to variable expenses allows the business to pay only for resources when they are actually consumed rather than investing in physical infrastructure upfront. Stopping guessing capacity allows the company to automatically scale up to handle the month-end demand spikes and scale down during the rest of the month, eliminating resource waste.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the financial challenge in the scenario.
The company has high capital expenditures due to purchasing upfront physical hardware.
Identifying the root financial inefficiency is necessary to map it to the corresponding AWS benefit.
2
Map the financial challenge to the AWS Cloud benefit.
The benefit is 'trading fixed expense for variable expense' (or capital expense to variable operating expense).
This benefit directly replaces large upfront hardware investments with pay-as-you-go pricing.
3
Analyze the operational challenge in the scenario.
The company must provision for peak capacity, leading to severe resource underutilization for 90% of the month.
Identifying the capacity management inefficiency is necessary to map it to the corresponding AWS benefit.
4
Map the operational challenge to the AWS Cloud benefit.
The benefit is 'stopping guessing capacity'.
This benefit uses elasticity to scale up automatically during the 3-day spike and scale down afterward, eliminating underutilized idle capacity.

Key Concept

The benefits of AWS Cloud computing, specifically trading fixed expense for variable expense and stopping guessing capacity.
Estimated Time:2m 0s
Question 65Question →

A gaming company needs to perform daily stress testing on a replica of their production environment. Instead of keeping a dedicated test environment running constantly, the team uses infrastructure as code (IaC) to dynamically provision a complete, identical copy of their environment every morning, run the automated tests, and terminate all resources at the end of the day. Which AWS Cloud design principle is this team implementing to optimize their testing process?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Treating servers as disposable resources

Answer

Treating servers as disposable resources
The correct answer is treating servers as disposable resources. In cloud computing, you can instantiate resources on demand, use them for the duration of a task, and then terminate them immediately. Using infrastructure as code (IaC) to dynamically deploy and tear down identical copies of production environments for testing is a primary example of this principle, preventing costs associated with running idle environments.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the scenario details: the team provisions replicas daily using infrastructure as code (IaC) and terminates them at the end of the day.
Identified that the servers and environments are temporary and easily replaceable.
Understanding the lifecycle of the provisioned resources helps link the practice to a specific AWS design principle.
2
Map the practice of creating and destroying temporary environments to the core AWS Cloud design principles.
Determined that treating servers as temporary, replaceable assets represents the 'disposable resources' design principle.
This mapping identifies the correct architectural principle being applied in the scenario.

Key Concept

Treating servers as disposable resources
Estimated Time:1m 0s
Question 66Question →

A software development team creates a new testing environment on AWS for every code deployment. The environment, consisting of several virtual servers and a database, is created automatically using a script, used to run automated tests, and then completely deleted as soon as the tests are completed. Which AWS Cloud design principle is directly demonstrated by this workflow?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Disposable resources

Answer

Disposable resources, which involves treating computing infrastructure as temporary assets that are dynamically provisioned for a task and terminated immediately when finished.
The scenario describes a workflow where resources are dynamically created for a specific purpose (testing) and then completely destroyed immediately afterward. This directly aligns with the AWS Cloud design principle of 'disposable resources', which encourages treating servers and databases as temporary assets rather than permanent, static infrastructure.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the lifecycle of the infrastructure described in the scenario.
The virtual servers and databases are created automatically by a script, used for testing, and completely deleted immediately after.
Understanding the timeline and purpose of the resources helps identify which design principle is being put into practice.
2
Evaluate the AWS Cloud design principles against the observed resource lifecycle.
The practice of treating infrastructure as temporary and easily replaceable rather than permanent aligns with 'disposable resources'.
This matches the definition of disposable resources, where components are launched, used, and discarded programmatically.

Key Concept

Disposable resources
Question 67Question →

A company plans to migrate its legacy on-premises web application to AWS. The primary goals are to minimize the operational overhead associated with infrastructure maintenance and to ensure the application remains highly available and resilient to individual hardware failures. Which of the following architectural actions align with these AWS Cloud design principles? (Select TWO.)

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Deploy the application across multiple Availability Zones and configure an Elastic Load Balancer to distribute traffic.; Replace self-managed relational databases on virtual servers with fully managed database services like Amazon RDS.

Answer

Deploying the application across multiple Availability Zones with an Elastic Load Balancer, and replacing self-managed databases with Amazon RDS.
Deploying the application across multiple Availability Zones with an Elastic Load Balancer ensures that the architecture is resilient to localized infrastructure failures (design for failure). Replacing self-managed databases with Amazon RDS shifts administrative operational tasks such as software patching, OS updates, and physical backups to AWS (services, not servers).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the requirements to reduce operational maintenance overhead and ensure high availability against hardware failures.
Identify that the system should utilize managed services and built-in redundancy across different physical locations.
This points directly to 'services, not servers' (managed services) and 'design for failure' (redundancy across Availability Zones).
2
Evaluate the design options to select those that implement managed database features and high-availability load balancing.
Amazon RDS manages database operations, and multi-AZ deployment with Elastic Load Balancing automatically routes traffic away from failed zones.
Both options implement the cloud design principles requested.
3
Check the remaining options for anti-patterns or incorrect mappings under the AWS Shared Responsibility Model.
Eliminate single-instance consolidation (single point of failure), fixed-capacity sizing (lacks elasticity), and physical data center auditing (AWS responsibility).
These choices represent bad architectural practices or operational misunderstandings.

Key Concept

AWS Cloud Design Principles (Design for Failure, Services not Servers, Elasticity)
Question 68Question →

A media streaming platform hosts its user profile service on AWS. The application is designed to store user session state locally in the memory of the individual Amazon EC2 instances that host the service. An Auto Scaling group automatically scales the number of EC2 instances out or in based on traffic demand. During off-peak hours, when the Auto Scaling group terminates underutilized instances, active users whose sessions were hosted on those specific instances are suddenly logged out and lose their progress. To align with AWS cloud design principles and prevent session loss, how should the application architecture be modified?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Store the session state in a centralized, external data store such as Amazon ElastiCache or Amazon DynamoDB, making the web tier stateless.

Answer

Store the session state in a centralized, external data store such as Amazon ElastiCache or Amazon DynamoDB, making the web tier stateless.
Storing the session state in a centralized, external data store (such as Amazon ElastiCache or Amazon DynamoDB) makes the web tier stateless. This aligns with AWS design principles because the EC2 instances become completely interchangeable. When instances scale in or out, or if an instance fails, users are not logged out because their session data is safely retrieved from the external database or cache.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the cause of user logouts during scale-in events.
User session data is stored locally in the memory of individual EC2 instances, meaning terminating an instance destroys the session data hosted on it.
To pinpoint the architectural bottleneck causing state loss.
2
Select the appropriate cloud design principle to address state dependency.
The concept of statelessness (under the 'Design for failure' and 'Elasticity' principles) requires separating compute resources from session state.
Decoupling session state makes the compute instances interchangeable, allowing seamless scaling and resilience.
3
Determine the target destination for externalized state.
Use a low-latency, centralized managed storage service like Amazon ElastiCache (in-memory) or Amazon DynamoDB (NoSQL key-value store).
This allows any running EC2 instance to fetch and update the session state for any user request.

Key Concept

Statelessness and Decoupling Application State
Question 69Question →

A multinational enterprise runs a data processing platform with a flat, predictable workload that requires constant compute utilization 24/7. In their on-premises data center, they negotiated maximum bulk discounts for hardware purchases. After migrating this specific workload to AWS without changing its architecture, the finance team observes that the baseline hourly cost of the compute resources is lower than their previous hardware amortization and hosting rates. When presenting these findings to the board, the CFO wants to explain why the baseline unit rate of compute power decreased despite the workload not utilizing cloud elasticity or scaling.

Which benefit of the AWS Cloud should the CFO reference to explain this specific cost reduction?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Benefit from massive economies of scale

Answer

Benefit from massive economies of scale
The benefit of massive economies of scale explains why AWS can offer lower pay-as-you-go prices than customers can achieve on their own. By aggregating usage from hundreds of thousands of customers, AWS can purchase resources at a scale that translates into lower unit costs for hardware, power, and facilities. This makes compute unit pricing cheaper even for steady-state workloads that do not use elasticity or auto-scaling.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the workload characteristics described in the scenario.
The workload is flat, predictable, and runs at constant utilization 24/7.
This rules out benefits related to dynamic scaling, elasticity, or variations in capacity demand.
2
Identify the primary source of the cost savings observed by the finance team.
The baseline hourly cost of compute resources on AWS is lower than the enterprise's own bulk-discounted hardware amortization and hosting rates.
The saving is a reduction in the unit cost of the infrastructure rather than a change in payment timing or utilization efficiency.
3
Correlate the unit cost savings to the correct AWS Cloud benefit.
AWS aggregates infrastructure usage from hundreds of thousands of customers, allowing it to achieve higher economies of scale and pass those savings to customers as lower pay-as-you-go prices.
This aligns directly with the benefit of massive economies of scale.

Key Concept

Massive economies of scale in cloud computing allow providers like AWS to achieve lower unit costs through aggregate customer purchasing power, passing the savings to customers as lower pay-as-you-go rates.
Estimated Time:3m 0s
Question 70Question →

A municipal energy utility provider plans to migrate its legacy customer billing portal to AWS. The portal consists of a Java-based application running on local servers and an on-premises Microsoft SQL Server database. The provider wants to eliminate the administrative burden of patching operating systems, managing database backups, and provisioning hardware, but has strict constraints that prohibit any modifications to the application's core codebase or SQL query structures.

To achieve this, the migration team decides to deploy the Java application code onto AWS Elastic Beanstalk and migrate the database to Amazon RDS for SQL Server.

Which migration strategy is this provider employing?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Replatforming

Answer

The correct strategy is replatforming, as the company is adopting managed cloud platforms to reduce operational overhead without modifying the core application code.
The correct answer is replatforming. Replatforming (often referred to as 'lift-tinker-and-shift') involves moving applications to the cloud while making minor optimizations to take advantage of cloud benefits—such as adopting managed database services (Amazon RDS) or platform-as-a-service solutions (AWS Elastic Beanstalk) to reduce operational overhead—without changing the core application architecture or code. This aligns perfectly with the provider's goal to eliminate administrative tasks like patching and backups while keeping the codebase intact.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the business requirements and technical constraints of the migration scenario.
The utility provider wants to eliminate administrative tasks (OS patching, database backups) but cannot modify the application's core codebase or database queries.
This establishes the boundary conditions for the migration strategy, eliminating strategies that require code modification (Refactoring) or changing the product entirely (Repurchasing).
2
Evaluate the planned target architecture on AWS.
The provider plans to move the Java application to AWS Elastic Beanstalk and migrate the SQL Server database to Amazon RDS.
This step identifies that the provider is adopting managed platform services rather than simply moving virtual machines to EC2.
3
Classify the migration strategy based on the modifications and target AWS services.
The strategy is identified as Replatforming (lift-tinker-and-shift).
By replacing self-managed infrastructure components with managed services (RDS and Elastic Beanstalk) to optimize operations without changing core application code, the company is executing a replatforming strategy.

Key Concept

Identifying AWS Migration Strategies (6 Rs)
Estimated Time:1m 30s
Question 71Question →

A regional hotel chain is migrating its IT workloads to the AWS Cloud. The IT team wants to move its legacy property management system to AWS exactly as-is, without making any modifications to the application code or database configuration, to ensure a fast transition. At the same time, the team has decided to decommission and shut down an outdated guest feedback system that is no longer used.

Which two of the following migration strategies align with the hotel chain's decisions?

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Rehosting; Retiring

Answer

Rehosting and Retiring
The correct strategies are Rehosting and Retiring. Rehosting is the process of migrating a workload to AWS exactly as-is to save time and effort. Retiring is the strategy of decommissioning applications that no longer serve a business purpose.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the migration plan for the legacy property management system.
The system is being migrated exactly as-is without any code or configuration changes.
This corresponds to the Rehosting (lift-and-shift) migration strategy.
2
Analyze the plan for the outdated guest feedback system.
The application is no longer useful and is being decommissioned and shut down.
This corresponds to the Retiring migration strategy.

Key Concept

Identifying AWS Cloud migration strategies (6 Rs)
Question 72Question →

A commercial real estate firm plans to migrate its legacy on-premises workloads to the AWS Cloud. The migration team has identified two key workloads for the first phase of migration:

* Workload 1: A property-valuation application running on virtual machines that must be migrated quickly to meet a data center exit deadline, without modifying the application code or configuration.
* Workload 2: A legacy document collaboration system that the firm wants to decommission entirely, replacing it with a fully managed commercial third-party Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution.

Which two migration strategies should the firm implement for these workloads? (Select TWO.)

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Rehosting for Workload 1, to quickly migrate the virtual machines to Amazon EC2 without changing application code or configurations.; Repurchasing for Workload 2, to replace the existing collaboration platform with a commercial SaaS solution.

Answer

The correct migration strategies are Rehosting for Workload 1 and Repurchasing for Workload 2.
The correct strategies are Rehosting for Workload 1 and Repurchasing for Workload 2. Rehosting (often called lift-and-shift) is the best choice for Workload 1 because it allows virtual machines to be migrated directly to Amazon EC2 without code modifications, meeting the tight deadline. Repurchasing (often called drop-and-shop) is the best choice for Workload 2 because it replaces the legacy product with a cloud-hosted commercial third-party SaaS solution.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the requirements for Workload 1.
The requirement is a quick migration of virtual machines without code or configuration changes. This corresponds directly to a Rehosting (lift-and-shift) migration strategy.
Rehosting is chosen when speed is the primary driver and minimal application changes are desired.
2
Analyze the requirements for Workload 2.
The requirement is to decommission the legacy workload entirely and adopt a commercially licensed SaaS replacement. This corresponds directly to a Repurchasing (drop-and-shop) migration strategy.
Repurchasing involves retiring a legacy application and moving to a new third-party product or service.

Key Concept

Identifying the AWS 6 Rs migration strategies based on business drivers and application requirements.
Question 73Question →

A multinational logistics company is evaluating whether to build its own private cloud infrastructure or migrate to AWS. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) argues that because the company is exceptionally large, it can negotiate hardware discounts directly with server manufacturers that will match the cost-efficiency of AWS. The lead cloud architect explains that AWS aggregates the resource usage of hundreds of thousands of active customers, allowing AWS to achieve a scale of purchasing power and operational efficiency that a single enterprise cannot replicate, resulting in lower pay-as-you-go prices for all customers. Which AWS Cloud benefit is the lead cloud architect describing?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Benefit from massive economies of scale

Answer

Benefit from massive economies of scale
The correct answer is the option stating 'Benefit from massive economies of scale'. Under this benefit, AWS aggregates the usage of hundreds of thousands of customers, allowing it to achieve higher economies of scale. This translates into lower pay-as-you-go prices for customers, which single enterprises cannot achieve on their own.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the scenario details to identify the core mechanism being described by the lead cloud architect.
The architect highlights that AWS aggregates resource usage from hundreds of thousands of customers to achieve massive purchasing power, resulting in lower pay-as-you-go prices.
Understanding the driver behind the cost reduction is necessary to map it to the correct AWS Cloud benefit.
2
Compare the architect's description against the definitions of the six AWS Cloud benefits.
The concept of aggregating multi-tenant demand to achieve higher purchasing power and lower unit costs maps directly to 'Benefit from massive economies of scale'.
This step ensures we select the benefit that matches the aggregation and cost reduction mechanism rather than general pay-as-you-go structures.
3
Evaluate the distractors to confirm they represent different concepts or misconceptions.
Trading fixed expense for variable expense represents the transition from CapEx to OpEx; stopping guessing capacity represents elasticity; and monolithic architecture is a design anti-pattern. None of these match the scenario's focus.
Verifying distractors eliminates potential ambiguity and confirms the correctness of the chosen option.

Key Concept

Benefit from massive economies of scale
Question 74Question →

A logistics enterprise is migrating its route optimization system to AWS. The enterprise wants to avoid paying for idle infrastructure during off-peak hours and needs the capability to deploy the system to new regional distribution centers across Europe and Asia within minutes.

Which of the following AWS Cloud benefits address these requirements? (Select TWO.)

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Go global in minutes; Trade fixed expense for variable expense

Answer

The benefits of going global in minutes and trading fixed expense for variable expense.
The requirements of deploying globally within minutes and avoiding fixed infrastructure expenses align with the AWS benefits of 'Go global in minutes' and 'Trade fixed expense for variable expense'. The former ensures rapid multi-region deployment, while the latter replaces capital expenses (CapEx) with operating expenses (OpEx).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the key business requirements in the scenario.
The business needs to avoid upfront costs for idle systems during off-peak hours and quickly deploy systems globally to Europe and Asia.
Understanding the constraints is necessary to map them to specific cloud benefits.
2
Map the requirement of avoiding upfront costs and paying only for consumed resources to the appropriate AWS Cloud benefit.
This maps to 'Trade fixed expense for variable expense' (OpEx vs. CapEx).
AWS charges based on dynamic usage rather than forcing high initial capital expenditures.
3
Map the requirement of rapid multi-region global deployment to the appropriate AWS Cloud benefit.
This maps to 'Go global in minutes'.
AWS infrastructure allows instant deployment across multiple geographic regions to reduce latency.

Key Concept

Benefits of the AWS Cloud
Question 75Question →

An agricultural technology company is planning to migrate its IT portfolio to the AWS Cloud. The migration team has identified two specific workloads for the first phase:

* Workload 1: A weather data analysis tool that runs on standard Linux virtual machines. The company needs to migrate this application to AWS quickly to meet an upcoming data center lease expiration, keeping it exactly as-is with no changes to the application code, database, configuration, or architecture.
* Workload 2: A proprietary soil-sensor data processor. The development team plans to completely rewrite this application from scratch to implement a modern, serverless, microservices-based architecture using AWS Lambda and Amazon DynamoDB.

Which migration strategies should the company select for these workloads? (Select TWO.)

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Rehosting for Workload 1; Refactoring for Workload 2

Answer

Rehosting for Workload 1 and Refactoring for Workload 2
The correct strategy for the first workload is Rehosting (lift-and-shift) because the workload must be migrated quickly to meet a deadline without any modifications to the code, configuration, or architecture. The correct strategy for the second workload is Refactoring (re-architecting) because the workload is being completely rewritten to utilize cloud-native features like serverless functions (AWS Lambda) and serverless databases (Amazon DynamoDB).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the requirements for Workload 1.
Workload 1 needs to be migrated to AWS quickly with zero changes to code, configuration, or architecture.
This matches the 'Rehosting' (lift-and-shift) migration strategy, where applications are moved to the cloud exactly as-is.
2
Analyze the requirements for Workload 2.
Workload 2 needs to be completely rewritten to adopt a serverless, microservices architecture using AWS Lambda and Amazon DynamoDB.
This matches the 'Refactoring' (re-architecting) strategy, where applications are modified or rewritten to leverage cloud-native features.
3
Identify and eliminate incorrect strategies.
Replatforming is incorrect for Workload 1 because it involves platform optimizations (like moving to managed services), which violates the 'no changes' constraint. Repurchasing is incorrect for Workload 2 because it refers to purchasing a different off-the-shelf product (such as SaaS) instead of custom rewriting. Retaining is incorrect because Workload 2 is actively being migrated and redesigned.
Ensures the correct classification of all migration strategies according to the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework.

Key Concept

AWS Migration Strategies (the 6 Rs)
Estimated Time:2m 0s
Question 76Question →

A logistics company is migrating a legacy shipment-tracking application to AWS. The current application runs on a single high-capacity server that receives telemetry data, processes it, and updates a database. During peak periods, the server often runs out of memory, causing incoming telemetry data to be lost. The company wants to redesign the application to achieve the following:
1. Ensure telemetry data is never lost, even if downstream processing components fail or are temporarily unavailable.
2. Minimize operational overhead by avoiding the management of virtual servers for the processing and storage layers.
3. Automatically adjust resource capacity to match the volume of incoming data without manual intervention or over-provisioning.

Which architectural design on AWS best applies the cloud design principles of loose coupling, services not servers, and elasticity to meet these requirements?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Ingest data using Amazon API Gateway, buffer messages in Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) to decouple the components, trigger AWS Lambda functions to process data, and store results in Amazon DynamoDB.

Answer

Ingest data using Amazon API Gateway, buffer messages in Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) to decouple the components, trigger AWS Lambda functions to process data, and store results in Amazon DynamoDB.
The correct architecture uses Amazon SQS to buffer and decouple components (applying loose coupling), uses Amazon API Gateway, AWS Lambda, and Amazon DynamoDB (applying services not servers to eliminate server management), and relies on Lambda and DynamoDB's capability to dynamically scale to match demand (applying elasticity).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the requirement for ensuring data is not lost even if components fail or are unavailable.
Identify that the system needs asynchronous decoupling, which is achieved using message queues (Amazon SQS) to implement the 'loose coupling' design principle.
Loose coupling ensures that components can fail or scale independently without causing cascading failures or data loss.
2
Analyze the requirement to minimize operational overhead by avoiding virtual server management.
Select fully managed, serverless services such as Amazon API Gateway, AWS Lambda, and Amazon DynamoDB, applying the 'services, not servers' design principle.
Using managed services shifts the operational burden of provisioning, scaling, and patching physical or virtual servers to AWS.
3
Analyze the requirement to automatically adjust resource capacity to match the volume of incoming data without manual intervention or over-provisioning.
Ensure that the selected compute and database layers support dynamic scaling (elasticity), which AWS Lambda and Amazon DynamoDB naturally provide.
Elasticity allows the system to scale out to handle traffic spikes and scale in during idle times, avoiding both under-provisioning and wasted costs.

Key Concept

Applying core AWS Cloud design principles including loose coupling, services not servers, and elasticity to build resilient, serverless, and auto-scaling architectures.
Estimated Time:3m 0s
Question 77Question →

A retail company is planning to migrate its application portfolio to the AWS Cloud. The migration team has analyzed their current workload catalog and identified two specific systems for the initial phase:

1. A customer relationship management (CRM) database running on an on-premises Microsoft SQL Server. The team wants to move this database to Amazon RDS for SQL Server to reduce database administration overhead, without changing the application's underlying code or features.
2. A legacy reporting server that was used by a department that has since been dissolved, meaning the server is no longer used by any business unit.

Which two migration strategies should the company adopt for these workloads? (Select TWO.)

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Replatforming; Retiring

Answer

The correct strategies are Replatforming and Retiring.
The correct strategies are Replatforming and Retiring. Moving the SQL Server database to Amazon RDS for SQL Server is Replatforming because it optimizes the platform deployment (using managed database administration) without changing the core application logic. Decommissioning the reporting server that is no longer needed is Retiring.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the first workload requirement: Moving an on-premises database to Amazon RDS without modifying application code.
Identify that switching to a managed database service without changing core code is Replatforming (lift-tinker-and-shift).
Replatforming involves optimizing cloud operations by using managed services (like Amazon RDS) without full re-architecting.
2
Analyze the second workload requirement: Decommissioning an unused reporting server from a dissolved department.
Identify that turning off unused servers is Retiring.
Retiring is the strategy used for workloads that are no longer needed and can be turned off.

Key Concept

AWS Cloud Migration Strategies (6 Rs)
Question 78Question →

A logistics company is migrating its vehicle tracking application to the AWS Cloud. The application is currently hosted on an on-premises Linux server and connects to a self-managed MySQL database. The company wants to reduce administrative overhead and physical server maintenance. They decide to deploy the application's code to AWS Elastic Beanstalk and migrate the MySQL database to Amazon RDS for MySQL, without modifying the application's core code or architecture. Which migration strategy is the company using for this migration?

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Replatforming

Answer

Replatforming
Replatforming is the correct migration strategy because the company is moving its workload to managed cloud platforms (AWS Elastic Beanstalk and Amazon RDS) to reduce administrative overhead and maintenance, while keeping the core application code and architecture unchanged. This represents a typical 'lift-tinker-and-shift' approach.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the migration requirements to check for modifications to the application code or architecture.
The scenario states that the application core code and architecture will remain unmodified.
This rules out Refactoring (which requires rewriting core code) and Repurchasing (which requires replacing the application entirely with a different product).
2
Evaluate the target AWS environment and managed services to identify optimizations.
The company is deploying the application to AWS Elastic Beanstalk and migrating the database to Amazon RDS for MySQL.
Moving workloads to managed platforms (such as Elastic Beanstalk and RDS) to reduce administrative overhead represents a platform optimization (tinkering) rather than a simple as-is virtual server migration.
3
Identify the migration strategy based on these findings.
Since the workload is optimized to run on managed services without changing the core architecture, it matches the definition of Replatforming (lift-tinker-and-shift).
Rehosting would move the workloads as-is to virtual servers (like EC2) without using platform optimizations, whereas this scenario uses managed services.

Key Concept

AWS Cloud Migration Strategies (6 Rs)
Question 79Question →

A global maritime cargo shipping firm is evaluating its application portfolio for migration to the AWS Cloud. During the analysis, the migration team identifies two specific workloads:

1. A bespoke legacy port operations scheduler running on an outdated, highly customized IBM AIX Unix operating system that cannot be virtualized in standard x86 environments. The firm plans to keep this scheduler operational on-premises for the next two years.
2. A monolithic core logistics dispatch system. The team plans to migrate the application server as-is, but will migrate its underlying commercial relational database to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL to reduce licensing costs and management overhead, without modifying the application's core code.

Which two of the following migration strategies represent the correct approach for these workloads?

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Retaining for the port operations scheduler, as it will remain on-premises due to platform incompatibility and business requirements.; Replatforming for the logistics dispatch system, as the database is moved to a managed database service (Amazon Aurora) to optimize operations and reduce licensing costs without modifying the core application code.

Answer

The correct strategies are Retaining for the port operations scheduler and Replatforming for the logistics dispatch system.
The correct strategies are Retaining and Replatforming. Retaining is appropriate for the port operations scheduler because it runs on unsupported hardware (IBM AIX Unix on non-x86 architecture) and the business has chosen to keep it on-premises. Replatforming is appropriate for the logistics dispatch system because it involves moving the application to the cloud with minor optimizations—specifically, moving the database to a managed service (Amazon Aurora) to save licensing costs—without modifying the core application code.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the migration constraints for the port operations scheduler.
The scheduler runs on an outdated, highly customized Unix OS (IBM AIX) that cannot be virtualized on standard x86 cloud environments, and the business plans to keep it operational on-premises.
This identifies that the workload cannot currently move to the cloud without substantial effort, and keeping it on-premises matches the definition of Retaining.
2
Analyze the migration goals and constraints for the logistics dispatch system.
The application server will be migrated as-is, but the database will be changed to a managed service (Amazon Aurora) to optimize costs without changes to the core application code.
Making minimal adjustments (tinkering) to leverage cloud benefits (like migrating to a managed database) without changing the core application architecture defines Replatforming.
3
Match the analyzed strategies to the options.
The option stating Retaining is correct for the scheduler, and the option stating Replatforming is correct for the dispatch system are identified as the correct selections.
This confirms the alignment of the business scenarios with the standard AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) 6 Rs migration strategies.

Key Concept

Identifying and applying the AWS 6 Rs migration strategies based on technical requirements, operating system dependencies, and business constraints.
Question 80Question →

A smart grid utility company manages thousands of IoT sensors across a metropolitan area. The company is migrating its data analytics workloads to AWS. They previously struggled with provisioning hardware for winter heating demand spikes, often keeping idle physical servers online during summer. Additionally, their engineering team spent 35% of their weekly hours troubleshooting physical hardware failures and upgrading rack cabling, rather than optimizing grid algorithms. Which of the following AWS Cloud benefits directly address these specific challenges? (Select TWO.)

Select all that apply

Show answer & explanation

Answer: Stop guessing capacity, allowing resources to scale dynamically with demand and eliminating idle infrastructure.; Stop spending money running and maintaining data centers, shifting the engineering focus from rack maintenance and physical hardware failures to core software optimization.

Answer

The correct benefits are stopping guessing capacity and stopping spending money running and maintaining data centers.
The correct answers are the benefits of stopping guessing capacity and stopping spending money running and maintaining data centers. The utility company's challenge with seasonal load variation (winter spikes vs. summer idleness) is directly resolved by stopping guessing capacity, which enables dynamic scaling in response to real-time demands. The engineering team's overhead of maintaining physical racks and resolving hardware failures is solved by stopping spending money running and maintaining data centers, which shifts these infrastructure operational tasks to AWS, allowing the engineers to focus on business-differentiating grid algorithms.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the operational issues described in the utility company's scenario.
The scenario highlights two distinct problems: (1) managing demand spikes during winter while dealing with idle server hardware during summer, and (2) engineers spending substantial time on physical server maintenance and cabling instead of developing grid algorithms.
Understanding the specific business pain points helps map them directly to the corresponding cloud benefits.
2
Map the issue of seasonal spikes and idle hardware to an AWS Cloud benefit.
The ability to scale resources dynamically up and down based on demand maps to the benefit of 'stop guessing capacity' (elasticity).
This benefit ensures resources are only active when needed, eliminating the cost of idle servers.
3
Map the issue of physical hardware maintenance and rack configuration to an AWS Cloud benefit.
Removing the burden of physical infrastructure management maps to the benefit of 'stop spending money running and maintaining data centers'.
AWS manages the underlying infrastructure, allowing the customer's technical staff to focus on strategic tasks like grid optimization.
4
Evaluate the options to identify which selections correctly describe these two benefits while avoiding common misconceptions.
The options detailing 'stop guessing capacity' and 'stop spending money running and maintaining data centers' are correct. The options involving trading variable expenses for capital expenses, fixing permanent capacity, or using monolithic architectures are incorrect.
Confirming the correct options ensures alignment with official AWS Cloud benefits and rules out distractors.

Key Concept

Defining the benefits of the AWS Cloud, specifically stopping guessing capacity and stopping spending money running and maintaining data centers.
PreviousPage 4 / 18Next
Cloud Concepts Practice Questions — AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner — Page 4 | Examkin