A logistics corporation is migrating its containerized supply-chain optimization suite to … — AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate

A logistics corporation is migrating its containerized supply-chain optimization suite to AWS. The suite will run on Amazon ECS using AWS Fargate and consists of three primary workloads:

1. A core dispatch coordination engine that runs $24/7$ , requiring a constant baseline of $16\text{ vCPUs}$ and $64\text{ GB}$ of RAM.
2. A route-recalculation batch process that runs for $8$ hours daily ( $00:00$ to $08:00$ UTC). This process is highly parallelizable, state-resilient, and can resume from checkpoints if interrupted.
3. A continuous, non-interruptible inventory sync process that monitors external warehouse API streams, requiring a steady $8\text{ vCPUs}$ and $32\text{ GB}$ of RAM.

The database tier utilizes a production Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL cluster that runs continuously with a predictable database load. The route-recalculation process also downloads terabytes of historical logs from Amazon S3 and writes results to Aurora.

Which architecture and purchasing strategy provides the most cost-optimized compute and data transfer solution while meeting all workload SLAs?

Implement ECS Fargate with a Compute Savings Plan sized to cover the combined baseline of the dispatch coordination engine and the inventory sync process. Execute the route-recalculation batch tasks using the ECS Fargate Spot capacity provider, establish an Amazon S3 Gateway VPC Endpoint to bypass NAT Gateway data transfer charges, and purchase Aurora Reserved DB Instances for the database cluster.Answer
B
Purchase a Compute Savings Plan with a commitment level sized to cover the dispatch coordination engine, the inventory sync process, and the Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL database instance hours. Deploy the route-recalculation batch tasks on ECS Fargate Spot, and route all S3 traffic through a NAT Gateway for secure internal data transfer.
C
Migrate the 24/7 dispatch coordination engine and continuous inventory sync process to AWS Lambda functions to eliminate idle compute charges. Run the route-recalculation batch tasks on ECS Fargate Spot, and purchase an EC2 Instance Savings Plan to cover the Lambda execution costs.
D
Implement ECS Fargate with a Compute Savings Plan to cover the dispatch coordination engine and the inventory sync process. Execute the route-recalculation batch tasks using the ECS Fargate Spot capacity provider. Route all S3 logging traffic through a NAT Gateway, and purchase Aurora Reserved DB Instances.

Answer

Implement ECS Fargate with a Compute Savings Plan sized to cover the combined baseline of the dispatch coordination engine and the inventory sync process. Execute the route-recalculation batch tasks using the ECS Fargate Spot capacity provider, establish an Amazon S3 Gateway VPC Endpoint to bypass NAT Gateway data transfer charges, and purchase Aurora Reserved DB Instances for the database cluster.

The correct option combines the most cost-effective AWS compute purchasing strategies with network data transfer optimization. The predictable, 24/7 ECS Fargate tasks are covered by a Compute Savings Plan. The daily, interruptible batch workloads are executed using ECS Fargate Spot to leverage maximum discounts. Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL database instances are covered by Aurora Reserved DB Instances because Compute Savings Plans do not apply to database services. Lastly, an Amazon S3 Gateway VPC Endpoint is configured to eliminate costly NAT Gateway data transfer charges for historical logs transferred to and from S3.

Step-by-Step Solution

Analyze the baseline 24/7 compute requirements for the core dispatch engine and inventory sync processes.

Identify a predictable, continuous baseline compute footprint of

24\text{ vCPUs}

(

16 + 8

) and

96\text{ GB}

of RAM (

64 + 32

Establishing the steady-state baseline is necessary to determine the commitment level for a Savings Plan.

Select the appropriate AWS compute purchasing models for the continuous and batch workloads.

Choose a Compute Savings Plan for the baseline

24/7

ECS Fargate tasks to receive discounts of up to

66\%

. Choose the ECS Fargate Spot capacity provider for the daily, 8-hour batch route-recalculation process since it is parallelizable, state-resilient, and can tolerate interruptions for up to a

70\%

discount.

Applying the correct purchasing strategy matches workload characteristics (non-interruptible vs interruptible) to maximize savings.

Select the purchasing model for the Amazon Aurora database tier.

Choose Amazon Aurora Reserved DB Instances to reduce the database costs.

Compute Savings Plans only cover EC2, Fargate, and Lambda; they do not apply to Amazon Aurora or RDS databases.

Identify the most cost-effective routing for transferring terabytes of historical logs between the ECS tasks and Amazon S3.

Configure a Gateway VPC Endpoint for Amazon S3 in the VPC routing tables.

S3 Gateway Endpoints are free and prevent high NAT Gateway data processing charges for traffic destined to S3.

Key Concept

Selecting cost-effective compute purchasing models (Compute Savings Plans, Spot, Reserved Instances) and optimizing VPC network data transfer costs for Amazon S3.

Question

Answer

Step-by-Step Solution

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