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Difficulty: MediumCost-Optimized Compute Selection and Purchasing Strategies

A healthcare provider runs a patient analytics application on AWS. The application consists of three main components:

* An Amazon ECS cluster running API services on a baseline fleet of Amazon EC2 instances that operate continuously.
* A batch processing workload running on Amazon EC2 instances that executes for 2 hours each night. This workload is stateless, fault-tolerant, and designed to resume from checkpoints if interrupted.
* An Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL database cluster that stores patient records.

Which combination of purchasing strategies will minimize compute costs while meeting the application requirements? (Select TWO.)

  1. Purchase EC2 Instance Savings Plans to cover the baseline EC2 instances running the API services.Answer
  2. Use Spot Instances to run the daily batch processing workload.Answer
  3. C
    Purchase Compute Savings Plans to cover both the baseline EC2 instances and the Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL database cluster.
  4. D
    Configure the daily batch processing workload to run on AWS Lambda functions.
  5. E
    Purchase an Amazon EC2 Instance Savings Plan to cover both the baseline EC2 instances and the Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL database cluster.

Answer

Purchase EC2 Instance Savings Plans to cover the baseline EC2 instances running the API services, and use Spot Instances to run the daily batch processing workload.
Purchasing an EC2 Instance Savings Plan is correct because the baseline ECS API services run continuously, making them steady-state workloads that benefit from the high discount of a committed savings plan. Using Spot Instances is correct because the daily batch processing workload is stateless, runs for a limited time (2 hours), and can resume from checkpoints, making it ideal for the high discounts of Spot instances without being impacted by potential interruptions.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the baseline API service requirements.
The API services run continuously on EC2, representing a predictable, steady-state workload.
Steady-state EC2 workloads are best optimized using Savings Plans or Reserved Instances. An EC2 Instance Savings Plan offers significant discounts for a commitment to a specific instance family in a region.
2
Analyze the batch processing workload requirements.
The batch job runs for 2 hours daily, is stateless, and is designed to handle interruptions.
Since the batch workload is fault-tolerant and short-lived, Spot Instances provide the most cost-optimized compute option, offering significant discounts without long-term commitment.
3
Evaluate database cost optimization options and rule out ineligible plans.
The Amazon Aurora database is not eligible for EC2 Instance Savings Plans or Compute Savings Plans.
Compute Savings Plans and EC2 Instance Savings Plans do not cover RDS or Aurora databases. Using database-specific Reserved Instances is the correct way to discount database workloads.

Key Concept

Selecting the most cost-effective EC2 purchasing option (Savings Plans vs. Spot Instances) based on workload predictability, duration, and fault tolerance.
Estimated Time:2m 0s
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Topics

Cost-Optimized Compute Selection and Purchasing Strategies