Architecting on AWS Certification Blueprint Reading & Symbols 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In an AWS architecture diagram, the Elastic Load Balancer is most commonly depicted as which symbol?
- A funnel shape routing traffic to multiple targets
- A horizontal bar or balance scale icon distributing connections (Correct answer)
- A router box with multiple output arrows
- A round-robin circle connecting EC2 instances
Correct answer: A horizontal bar or balance scale icon distributing connections
ELB is shown as a balancer icon—often a horizontal bar—indicating it distributes incoming traffic across multiple backend targets.
Question 2: On an AWS network topology diagram, what does a NAT Gateway symbol positioned between a private subnet and an Internet Gateway indicate?
- Private instances can receive inbound internet traffic
- Private instances can initiate outbound internet connections without being directly reachable from the internet (Correct answer)
- The NAT Gateway replaces the Internet Gateway for all traffic
- The subnet is part of a VPN-only connection
Correct answer: Private instances can initiate outbound internet connections without being directly reachable from the internet
A NAT Gateway allows outbound internet access for private subnet resources while blocking unsolicited inbound connections from the internet.
Question 3: In AWS architecture diagrams, CloudFront is typically depicted at which location relative to the origin services?
- Inside the VPC, adjacent to EC2 instances
- At the edge, outside the VPC, between end users and the origin (Correct answer)
- Inside a private subnet as a caching layer
- Alongside Route 53 within the DNS boundary box
Correct answer: At the edge, outside the VPC, between end users and the origin
CloudFront is drawn at the edge of the architecture between users and the origin, representing its role as a global CDN with edge locations.
Question 4: When an AWS architecture blueprint shows an icon of interlocking gears labeled 'Step Functions', what architectural concept does this represent?
- A caching layer for Lambda function warm-up
- An orchestration workflow that sequences and coordinates multiple service calls (Correct answer)
- A CI/CD pipeline for automated deployments
- A batch processing job managed by AWS Batch
Correct answer: An orchestration workflow that sequences and coordinates multiple service calls
AWS Step Functions orchestrates serverless workflows by coordinating Lambda functions and other services in defined sequences, hence the gear/workflow icon.
Question 5: In an AWS architecture diagram, what does a funnel icon connected to an S3 bucket and a database typically represent?
- AWS DataSync for file transfer
- An ETL pipeline such as AWS Glue processing and loading data (Correct answer)
- An S3 lifecycle policy moving objects to Glacier
- AWS Transfer Family managing file uploads
Correct answer: An ETL pipeline such as AWS Glue processing and loading data
A funnel icon between S3 and a database represents an ETL process, commonly AWS Glue, that extracts, transforms, and loads data.
Question 6: In a standard AWS reference architecture, what does a box labeled 'AZ-1a' containing subnets and EC2 instances represent?
- An AWS account boundary
- A specific Availability Zone grouping fault-isolated resources (Correct answer)
- A VPC peering connection endpoint
- A dedicated hardware host cluster
Correct answer: A specific Availability Zone grouping fault-isolated resources
AZ-1a designates a specific Availability Zone (e.g., us-east-1a), grouping resources that share physical fault isolation within a region.
Question 7: What does a lock icon overlaid on an S3 bucket symbol in an AWS architecture diagram indicate?
- The bucket is versioning-enabled
- The bucket is publicly inaccessible or has bucket policy restrictions (Correct answer)
- The bucket uses server-side encryption with KMS
- The bucket has object lifecycle rules configured
Correct answer: The bucket is publicly inaccessible or has bucket policy restrictions
A lock icon on an S3 bucket indicates restricted access, typically a private bucket with block public access settings or restrictive bucket policies.
Architecting on AWS Certification Blueprint Reading & Symbols 4
In an AWS architecture diagram, the Elastic Load Balancer is most commonly depicted as which symbol?