AWS Solutions Architect Cost Optimization & Performance 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which AWS pricing model offers the highest discount for long-term commitment?
- On-Demand Instances
- Spot Instances
- Reserved Instances (Correct answer)
- Savings Plans
Correct answer: Reserved Instances
Reserved Instances (RIs) offer a significant discount compared to On-Demand pricing in exchange for a commitment to a specific instance type and region for a 1-year or 3-year term. This pricing model is ideal for applications with predictable, steady-state workloads, providing substantial cost savings over the long term. The longer the commitment, the greater the discount.
Question 2: Which AWS tool helps analyze and reduce cloud costs?
- AWS Cost Explorer (Correct answer)
- AWS Config
- AWS Inspector
- AWS CloudTrail
Correct answer: AWS Cost Explorer
AWS Cost Explorer is a tool that allows you to visualize, understand, and manage your AWS costs and usage over time. It provides customizable reports and forecasts to help you analyze your spending patterns, identify cost-saving opportunities, and plan future budgets. By offering detailed insights, Cost Explorer empowers you to optimize your cloud expenditure.
Question 3: Which AWS service allows automatic scaling of resources based on real-time demand?
- AWS Auto Scaling (Correct answer)
- AWS Direct Connect
- AWS Elastic Beanstalk
- AWS Snowball
Correct answer: AWS Auto Scaling
AWS Auto Scaling automatically adjusts the number of compute resources, such as EC2 instances, in your application based on real-time demand. It ensures that your application maintains optimal performance and availability during peak loads while also reducing costs by scaling down during periods of low demand. This dynamic adjustment is crucial for efficient resource utilization.
Question 4: Which AWS storage class offers the lowest cost for infrequent access?
- Amazon S3 Standard
- Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering
- Amazon S3 Glacier (Correct answer)
- Amazon EFS
Correct answer: Amazon S3 Glacier
Amazon S3 Glacier is a secure, durable, and extremely low-cost storage class designed for data archiving and long-term backup. It is optimized for data that is infrequently accessed, with retrieval times ranging from minutes to hours. Glacier offers significant cost savings for data you rarely need but must retain for compliance or historical purposes.
Question 5: What AWS service helps optimize compute costs by allowing workloads to run on unused EC2 capacity?
- AWS On-Demand Instances
- AWS Spot Instances (Correct answer)
- AWS Dedicated Hosts
- AWS Savings Plans
Correct answer: AWS Spot Instances
AWS Spot Instances allow you to bid on unused EC2 capacity, offering significant discounts compared to On-Demand prices. They are ideal for fault-tolerant, flexible, and stateless workloads that can tolerate interruptions, such as batch processing, data analysis, or development environments. Utilizing Spot Instances can lead to substantial cost savings for appropriate workloads.
Question 6: Which AWS service helps reduce latency and improve performance by caching data at edge locations?
- Amazon CloudFront (Correct answer)
- AWS Direct Connect
- Amazon S3
- AWS Snowball
Correct answer: Amazon CloudFront
Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) service that securely delivers data, videos, applications, and APIs to customers globally with low latency and high transfer speeds. It caches content at edge locations closer to users, reducing the distance data travels and improving application performance. This global distribution enhances user experience by minimizing load times.
AWS Solutions Architect Cost Optimization & Performance 1
Which AWS pricing model offers the highest discount for long-term commitment?