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Difficulty: MediumHigh-Performing and Elastic Compute Solutions

An online multiplayer gaming platform hosts real-time match sessions on a fleet of Amazon EC2 instances. The game server software runs on custom TCP port 8200, and a Network Load Balancer (NLB) distributes player connections across the fleet. To maintain game state consistency, the instances require the highest possible throughput and lowest packet latency for their inter-node synchronization. During testing, the game instances are marked as unhealthy by the NLB, preventing player traffic from reaching the active sessions. Which configuration strategy resolves the health check failure while ensuring optimal node-to-node network performance?

  1. A
    Utilize a spread placement group for the EC2 instances, and configure the Network Load Balancer's target group health check to use the custom port 8200.
  2. B
    Utilize a cluster placement group for the EC2 instances, and configure the Network Load Balancer's target group health check to use the default port.
  3. C
    Utilize a partition placement group for the EC2 instances, and configure the Network Load Balancer's target group health check to use the default port.
  4. Utilize a cluster placement group for the EC2 instances, and configure the Network Load Balancer's target group health check to use the custom port 8200.Answer

Answer

Utilize a cluster placement group for the EC2 instances, and configure the Network Load Balancer's target group health check to use the custom port 8200.
The correct strategy is to utilize a cluster placement group for the EC2 instances and configure the Network Load Balancer's target group health check to use the custom port 8200. A cluster placement group groups instances closely inside a single Availability Zone to enable low-latency, 10 Gbps or higher node-to-node throughput. Additionally, because the game server process is bound to the custom port 8200, the target group's health checks must be explicitly pointed to port 8200 so the load balancer can verify application health rather than failing on a default port.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Select the correct EC2 placement strategy for high-performance, low-latency inter-node communication.
Identify that a cluster placement group is the required strategy because it places instances physically close together within a single Availability Zone, enabling low-latency, high-throughput network performance.
Other placement groups like spread or partition are designed for fault tolerance and high availability across different hardware racks, which introduces network latency.
2
Identify the cause of the load balancer marking instances as unhealthy.
Determine that the Network Load Balancer is performing health checks on a default port, whereas the game server application is listening on custom TCP port 8200.
When the load balancer queries a port where no service is listening, the connection fails, causing the targets to be marked as unhealthy.
3
Reconfigure the target group health check settings.
Set the health check port in the target group configuration to custom port 8200.
This alignment allows the Network Load Balancer to establish successful TCP handshakes with the actual game server process, resolving the false unhealthy status.

Key Concept

Selecting the optimal placement group for latency-sensitive workloads and aligning load balancer health checks with custom application ports.
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

High-Performing and Elastic Compute Solutions

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