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Difficulty: MediumHigh-Performing and Scalable Storage Solutions

A company runs a high-performance web application on a fleet of Amazon EC2 instances distributed across two Availability Zones. The instances require concurrent read/write access to a shared, POSIX-compliant file system to store and retrieve media assets. The storage must scale throughput automatically to handle unpredictable traffic spikes while maintaining low latency.

Which storage solution should a solutions architect recommend to meet these requirements with the least operational overhead?

  1. Amazon EFS configured with Elastic throughputAnswer
  2. B
    A single Amazon EBS gp3 volume with Multi-Attach enabled, formatted with an ext4 file system and mounted to all EC2 instances
  3. C
    A single Amazon EBS io2 volume with Multi-Attach enabled, mounted to all EC2 instances across both Availability Zones
  4. D
    An Amazon S3 bucket mounted to the EC2 instances using the AWS Storage Gateway Volume Gateway

Answer

Amazon EFS configured with Elastic throughput
The correct answer is the option proposing Amazon EFS with Elastic throughput. Amazon EFS is designed as a serverless, shared, POSIX-compliant file system that can be accessed concurrently by EC2 instances in multiple Availability Zones. Elastic throughput ensures that the storage scales dynamically to handle unpredictable spikes in traffic without operational management.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the storage requirements of the application: concurrent access, multi-AZ deployment, POSIX compliance, automatic scaling of throughput, and low operational overhead.
Amazon EFS is selected as the primary candidate because it natively provides a shared POSIX-compliant file system that spans multiple Availability Zones and supports concurrent access.
Eliminating block-based storage options (EBS) which are locked to a single Availability Zone and do not natively support standard concurrent file sharing across multiple instances.
2
Evaluate EFS throughput modes to address unpredictable spikes in traffic.
Elastic throughput mode is selected because it dynamically scales throughput based on workload demands, eliminating the need to provision or manage throughput limits manually.
Ensuring the system handles performance spikes cost-effectively and with minimal operational effort.

Key Concept

Shared file storage using Amazon EFS with Elastic throughput mode across multiple Availability Zones.
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Topics

High-Performing and Scalable Storage Solutions

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