Question

Difficulty: MediumHigh-Performing and Elastic Compute Solutions

A software company is building a real-time collaborative whiteboarding application. The backend service runs on Amazon EC2 instances and requires sub-millisecond network latency between the instances to synchronize cursor movements and drawing paths across active sessions. The application processes user actions on port 9443, while a management agent on the instances listens on port 80. An Application Load Balancer (ALB) is configured to distribute user session traffic to these instances. Which TWO configurations should a solutions architect implement to achieve optimal performance and ensure correct health monitoring?

  1. Launch the EC2 instances in a cluster placement group.Answer
  2. Configure the ALB target group health check to query port 9443.Answer
  3. C
    Launch the EC2 instances in a spread placement group.
  4. D
    Launch the EC2 instances in a partition placement group.
  5. E
    Configure the ALB target group health check to query port 80.

Answer

Launch the EC2 instances in a cluster placement group and configure the ALB target group health check to query port 9443.
To achieve sub-millisecond latency between instances, they must be launched in a cluster placement group, which places them in close proximity within a single Availability Zone. To ensure that the Application Load Balancer correctly detects application failures, the health check port must match the application port (port 9443) rather than the management port (port 80).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the network latency requirements between the EC2 instances.
The application requires sub-millisecond node-to-node latency for real-time synchronization.
This requirement is satisfied by using a cluster placement group, which physically groups instances within a single Availability Zone.
2
Determine the application port that is serving client traffic.
The collaborative whiteboard service processes user actions on port 9443.
This identifies the correct target port for load balancing and health checks.
3
Evaluate the health check port configuration.
The load balancer health check must target port 9443 to monitor the actual application process.
Targeting the default management port (port 80) would fail to detect if the whiteboarding service on port 9443 crashes, leading to black-holing client traffic.

Key Concept

Low-latency compute node placement and application-aware load balancer health checks are critical for high-performing, resilient architectures.
Rate this question