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CCP (WorldatWork Rewards Certifications) practice questions

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Question 1Cloud Concepts and Architecture

In the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (AWS CAF), which perspective focuses on aligning cloud initiatives with business outcomes and organizational change?

  1. Platform perspective
  2. Operations perspective
  3. Security perspective
  4. Business perspective Correct answer.

Explanation

The Business perspective of AWS CAF addresses how cloud investments create business value, covering strategy, finance, and organizational change management. The other perspectives are technical or governance-focused and do not own business-value alignment.

Question 2Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A company wants to run workloads with predictable, steady-state compute demand for several years and is highly price-sensitive. Which AWS purchasing approach best matches this requirement?

  1. On-Demand Instances
  2. Savings Plans or Reserved Instances with a multi-year commitment Correct answer.
  3. Spot Instances
  4. Dedicated Hosts

Explanation

Commitment-based purchasing such as Savings Plans or Reserved Instances offers significant discounts in exchange for a one- or three-year usage commitment, ideal for steady predictable workloads. On-Demand is flexible but costs more, Spot can be interrupted, and Dedicated Hosts target licensing or isolation needs.

Question 3Cloud Concepts and Architecture

Which statement best describes the AWS Well-Architected Framework's Operational Excellence pillar?

  1. It focuses on preventing, detecting, and responding to security incidents.
  2. It focuses on the ability to recover from failures and meet demand.
  3. It focuses on running and monitoring systems to deliver business value and continually improving processes. Correct answer.
  4. It focuses on minimizing environmental impact of cloud workloads.

Explanation

Operational Excellence centers on running and monitoring systems, delivering business value, and continuously improving supporting processes and procedures. Security, Reliability, and Sustainability are separate pillars with distinct goals.

Question 4Cloud Concepts and Architecture

An application must remain available even if a single data center fails, and the company wants the lowest-latency access for users in two continents. Which AWS design choice addresses both requirements?

  1. Deploy resources across multiple Availability Zones in one Region only.
  2. Deploy all resources in one Availability Zone within a single Region.
  3. Deploy resources across multiple Regions and use multi-AZ within each Region. Correct answer.
  4. Deploy resources in a single edge location.

Explanation

Multi-AZ deployment within a Region protects against a single data center failure, while deploying across multiple Regions places capacity near users on different continents to reduce latency. Combining both satisfies the resilience and latency requirements.

Question 5Cloud Concepts and Architecture

Which component of the AWS global infrastructure is a physical location with multiple isolated Availability Zones connected by low-latency links?

  1. Availability Zone
  2. Local Zone
  3. Region Correct answer.
  4. Edge location

Explanation

A Region is a geographic area containing multiple, isolated Availability Zones connected by low-latency, high-throughput networking. Availability Zones are the individual data-center clusters inside a Region.

Question 6Cloud Concepts and Architecture

Under the AWS shared responsibility model, which task is the customer's responsibility when using Amazon EC2?

  1. Maintaining the physical security of the data center
  2. Securing the hypervisor layer
  3. Patching the guest operating system on the instance Correct answer.
  4. Managing the underlying network hardware

Explanation

For EC2, AWS is responsible for security of the cloud, including physical facilities, hardware, and the hypervisor. The customer is responsible for security in the cloud, which includes patching the guest operating system and configuring the instance.

Question 7Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A team wants to migrate a monolithic application to a design where each component can be scaled and deployed independently. Which cloud architecture principle does this illustrate?

  1. Loose coupling through service-oriented or microservice design Correct answer.
  2. Vertical scaling of a single large instance
  3. Single points of failure
  4. Manual capacity provisioning

Explanation

Decomposing an application into independently deployable, loosely coupled components lets each scale and change without affecting others. This is a core cloud design principle for resilience and agility.

Question 8Cloud Concepts and Architecture

Which AWS service provides a managed, highly available relational database that automatically replicates across Availability Zones?

  1. Amazon S3
  2. Amazon RDS with a Multi-AZ deployment Correct answer.
  3. AWS Lambda
  4. Amazon DynamoDB

Explanation

Amazon RDS Multi-AZ maintains a synchronous standby replica in a different Availability Zone and fails over automatically. S3 is object storage, DynamoDB is NoSQL, and Lambda runs functions, so none provides a managed relational Multi-AZ standby.

Question 9Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A startup wants to run code in response to file uploads without provisioning or managing servers. Which approach fits best?

  1. Run a container cluster on self-managed hosts
  2. Use AWS Lambda triggered by Amazon S3 events Correct answer.
  3. Provision a fleet of EC2 instances and poll for uploads
  4. Host a script on an on-premises server

Explanation

AWS Lambda is serverless compute that runs code in response to events such as S3 object creation, with no server provisioning. The other options require managing compute capacity or infrastructure outside AWS.

Question 10Cloud Concepts and Architecture

Which characteristic of cloud computing allows a company to add capacity during a traffic spike and release it afterward, paying only for what is used?

  1. Elasticity Correct answer.
  2. Global reach
  3. Fault tolerance
  4. Durability

Explanation

Elasticity is the ability to acquire and release resources automatically to match demand, so cost tracks actual usage. Durability concerns data persistence, global reach concerns geographic footprint, and fault tolerance concerns continued operation despite failures.

Question 11Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A company is designing a workload that must survive the loss of an entire AWS Region. Which strategy best meets this requirement?

  1. Replicate data and deploy standby resources in a second Region Correct answer.
  2. Back up data to Amazon S3 in the same Region
  3. Rely on a single Availability Zone with snapshots
  4. Use a Multi-AZ deployment in one Region

Explanation

Surviving a full Region loss requires resources and data replicated into another Region, typically with a standby or active-active deployment. Multi-AZ and same-Region backups fail if the entire Region becomes unavailable.

Question 12Cloud Concepts and Architecture

Which statement accurately describes the difference between horizontal and vertical scaling?

  1. Horizontal scaling increases instance size; vertical scaling adds more instances.
  2. Both terms describe adding more Availability Zones.
  3. Horizontal scaling adds more instances; vertical scaling increases the size of an existing instance. Correct answer.
  4. Both terms describe moving workloads to edge locations.

Explanation

Horizontal scaling, or scaling out, adds more instances to distribute load, while vertical scaling, or scaling up, increases the CPU, memory, or other resources of a single instance. The two are distinct approaches to capacity.

Question 13Cloud Concepts and Architecture

An architect wants to decouple a web tier from a backend processing tier so that traffic bursts do not overwhelm the backend. Which AWS service is most appropriate?

  1. AWS Identity and Access Management
  2. Amazon CloudFront
  3. Amazon Route 53
  4. Amazon SQS Correct answer.

Explanation

Amazon SQS provides a managed message queue that buffers requests between tiers, allowing the backend to process at its own pace. Route 53 handles DNS, IAM handles access control, and CloudFront handles content delivery.

Question 14Cloud Concepts and Architecture

Which of the following best describes the AWS responsibility for security 'of the cloud' versus a customer's responsibility for security 'in the cloud'?

  1. Customers secure physical data centers; AWS secures application code.
  2. Customers are responsible for all security; AWS provides no security controls.
  3. AWS secures physical infrastructure and managed service foundations; customers secure their data, configurations, and access. Correct answer.
  4. AWS secures all customer data; customers secure only the network cables.

Explanation

AWS is responsible for security of the cloud, meaning the facilities, hardware, and foundational services, while customers are responsible for security in the cloud, including data, configuration, identity, and access management. The split shifts toward the customer for IaaS and toward AWS for managed services.

Question 15Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A company wants to reduce the environmental impact of its cloud workloads. Which AWS Well-Architected pillar addresses this goal?

  1. Cost Optimization
  2. Performance Efficiency
  3. Reliability
  4. Sustainability Correct answer.

Explanation

The Sustainability pillar focuses on minimizing the environmental impacts of running cloud workloads through efficient resource use and reduced energy consumption. Cost Optimization, Performance Efficiency, and Reliability address different concerns.

Question 16Cloud Concepts and Architecture

Which AWS characteristic allows a company to experiment quickly and fail cheaply by provisioning resources in minutes and tearing them down?

  1. Agility and rapid provisioning Correct answer.
  2. Fixed capacity planning
  3. Long procurement cycles
  4. Capital expenditure model

Explanation

Cloud agility lets teams provision resources in minutes, experiment, and release them when no longer needed, lowering the cost of failure. Traditional capital expenditure and fixed capacity planning involve long procurement cycles and upfront investment.

Question 17Cloud Concepts and Architecture

An application reads the same reference data repeatedly and must serve it with very low latency to global users. Which design is most appropriate?

  1. Store the data on each user's local device
  2. Use AWS Direct Connect to connect each user
  3. Store the data only in a single Region's database
  4. Use Amazon CloudFront to cache the content at edge locations Correct answer.

Explanation

Amazon CloudFront caches content at edge locations close to users, reducing latency for frequently accessed data. A single-Region database, per-user Direct Connect, and local device storage do not provide scalable low-latency global delivery.

Question 18Cloud Concepts and Architecture

Which statement about AWS Regions and Availability Zones is correct?

  1. An Availability Zone spans multiple Regions.
  2. All Availability Zones in a Region share a single data center.
  3. A Region contains multiple Availability Zones isolated from one another. Correct answer.
  4. Edge locations are the same as Availability Zones.

Explanation

A Region is composed of multiple Availability Zones, each with independent power, cooling, and networking, connected by low-latency links. This isolation enables fault-tolerant designs within a Region.

Question 19Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A company needs to move large volumes of data to AWS quickly and has limited internet bandwidth. Which AWS service is designed for dedicated private network connectivity between on-premises and AWS?

  1. AWS Direct Connect Correct answer.
  2. Amazon Route 53
  3. Amazon VPC peering
  4. AWS Snowball Edge

Explanation

AWS Direct Connect establishes a dedicated private network connection from on-premises to AWS, bypassing the public internet for consistent bandwidth and latency. Route 53 is DNS, Snowball Edge is a physical data-transfer device, and VPC peering connects VPCs within AWS.

Question 20Cloud Concepts and Architecture

Which AWS design principle recommends avoiding single points of failure by deploying redundant components?

  1. Optimize for cost only
  2. Rely on a single instance
  3. Use manual failover
  4. Design for failure Correct answer.

Explanation

Designing for failure assumes components will fail and builds redundancy, health checks, and automated recovery so the system remains available. Manual failover and single-instance designs introduce risk, and cost-only optimization ignores resilience.

Question 21Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A workload has highly variable, unpredictable demand and must scale automatically without manual intervention. Which combination best supports this?

  1. Scheduled shutdowns of all instances
  2. Auto Scaling groups with CloudWatch alarms and load balancing Correct answer.
  3. Fixed reserved capacity sized for peak load
  4. A single large instance with manual resizing

Explanation

Auto Scaling groups adjust capacity based on CloudWatch metrics, and a load balancer distributes traffic across instances, enabling automatic response to unpredictable demand. Manual resizing and fixed peak capacity do not scale automatically.

Question 22Cloud Concepts and Architecture

Which statement best explains why loose coupling improves cloud application resilience?

  1. Components rely on synchronous calls for every interaction.
  2. Components share a single database connection to reduce latency.
  3. Components interact through well-defined interfaces or queues, so a failure in one does not immediately cascade. Correct answer.
  4. Components must be deployed together to ensure consistency.

Explanation

Loose coupling uses interfaces, queues, or events so components can fail or scale independently without cascading failures. Tightly coupled synchronous designs propagate failures and reduce resilience.

Question 23Cloud Concepts and Architecture

Under the shared responsibility model for a managed service such as Amazon RDS, which responsibility shifts to AWS compared with running a database on EC2?

  1. Managing database user accounts and permissions
  2. Configuring security group rules
  3. Encrypting sensitive data stored in the database
  4. Patching the underlying database engine and operating system Correct answer.

Explanation

With Amazon RDS, AWS manages the operating system and database engine patching, while the customer still controls data, access, encryption choices, and network configuration. This shift is a key benefit of managed services.

Question 24Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A company wants to run a fault-tolerant batch job that can tolerate interruptions and wants to minimize compute cost. Which EC2 purchasing option is most suitable?

  1. Dedicated Hosts
  2. Spot Instances Correct answer.
  3. Reserved Instances
  4. On-Demand Instances

Explanation

Spot Instances offer large discounts for spare capacity and suit fault-tolerant, interruptible workloads such as batch processing. On-Demand and Reserved options cost more, and Dedicated Hosts target isolation or licensing needs.

Question 25Cloud Concepts and Architecture

Which AWS service allows an organization to centrally manage and govern multiple AWS accounts using organizational units and service control policies?

  1. Amazon VPC
  2. AWS CloudTrail
  3. AWS Organizations Correct answer.
  4. Amazon CloudWatch

Explanation

AWS Organizations provides centralized management of multiple accounts through organizational units and service control policies that set permission guardrails. VPC handles networking, CloudTrail logs API activity, and CloudWatch monitors metrics and logs.

Question 26Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A solutions architect is planning a deployment that must remain available even if a single data center in a Region fails. Which AWS construct is designed specifically to provide this isolation within a Region?

  1. An Availability Zone Correct answer.
  2. An edge location
  3. A placement group
  4. A virtual private gateway

Explanation

Availability Zones are distinct, physically separated data center groups within a Region, each with independent power, cooling, and networking, so spanning multiple AZs protects against a single-site failure. Edge locations and virtual private gateways are networking constructs that do not provide compute isolation across data centers.

Question 27Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A company runs a stateless web tier behind a load balancer and expects demand to double during seasonal sales. Which design change most directly supports handling that growth without manual intervention?

  1. Move the application to a single larger instance type before the sales period
  2. Reserve a fixed number of instances sized for peak demand year-round
  3. Configure an Auto Scaling group that adjusts instance count based on a target metric Correct answer.
  4. Attach additional elastic network interfaces to each existing instance

Explanation

Elasticity in the cloud is achieved by scaling the number of identical, stateless instances in response to demand signals, which is exactly what an Auto Scaling group with a target-tracking policy does. The other options either scale vertically or add capacity that cannot adjust automatically.

Question 28Cloud Concepts and Architecture

Which AWS global infrastructure component should an architect select first when a regulatory requirement mandates that data at rest never leave a specific country?

  1. The Availability Zone
  2. The local zone
  3. The edge location
  4. The AWS Region Correct answer.

Explanation

A Region is the top-level geographic boundary for where AWS stores and processes data, so data-residency requirements are satisfied by choosing an appropriate Region and keeping resources there. Availability Zones, edge locations, and local zones are subdivisions or extensions within or near a Region and do not by themselves define the country boundary for stored data.

Question 29Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A team is comparing a traditional on-premises data center with AWS for a new project. Which operational burden is removed when the team adopts AWS managed services?

  1. Choosing an appropriate instance or database size for the workload
  2. Configuring security groups for the application's traffic
  3. Defining the application's business logic and data model
  4. Patching the underlying hypervisor and physical host hardware Correct answer.

Explanation

AWS operates the physical infrastructure and the virtualization layer, including host hardware maintenance and hypervisor patching, under the shared responsibility model. Customers still own application logic, network access rules, and capacity sizing decisions.

Question 30Cloud Concepts and Architecture

An application writes messages to a queue that a pool of worker instances polls. A worker crashes midway through processing a message. Which queue behavior best preserves the work without duplicating successful processing?

  1. The message becomes visible again after a visibility timeout expires and is retried by another worker Correct answer.
  2. The message is broadcast to every worker so each one attempts the same job
  3. The message is permanently deleted as soon as any worker receives it
  4. The message is moved to a dead-letter queue immediately on first receipt

Explanation

In a pull-based queue such as Amazon SQS, receiving a message makes it temporarily invisible rather than deleting it; if the worker fails to delete it before the visibility timeout, the message reappears for another consumer. This at-least-once delivery supports retry without losing work.

Question 31Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A company wants to run a stateless containerized workload where the platform manages host patching and cluster capacity, while the company retains control over container images and task definitions. Which AWS compute option matches this requirement?

  1. Amazon EC2 instances managed by the company
  2. Amazon EMR clusters
  3. AWS Fargate Correct answer.
  4. AWS Lambda functions

Explanation

Fargate is a serverless compute engine for containers that removes the need to provision or patch the underlying hosts while still letting you define images and task configuration. EC2 requires host management, Lambda is event-driven function execution rather than long-running container tasks, and EMR is a managed big-data framework.

Question 32Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A workload must continue serving reads if the primary database instance in one Availability Zone fails. Which architecture achieves this with the least operational effort on AWS?

  1. Run a single instance with a larger instance class to reduce failure probability
  2. Use a Multi-AZ deployment with a synchronous standby that is promoted automatically Correct answer.
  3. Store the database files on instance store volumes for faster recovery
  4. Take nightly snapshots and restore them into the same Availability Zone

Explanation

A Multi-AZ deployment maintains a synchronous standby in a different Availability Zone and fails over automatically, which is the lowest-effort way to survive an AZ failure. Snapshots and larger instances do not provide automatic failover, and instance store is ephemeral.

Question 33Cloud Concepts and Architecture

An architect is choosing a storage tier for infrequently accessed archives that must be retrievable within minutes and retained for seven years at low cost. Which Amazon S3 storage class fits best?

  1. S3 One Zone-IA
  2. S3 Intelligent-Tiering Frequent Access tier
  3. S3 Standard
  4. S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval Correct answer.

Explanation

S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval is designed for long-lived archive data that is rarely accessed but must be available in milliseconds, giving lower storage cost than Standard. Standard is priced for frequent access, One Zone-IA sacrifices AZ redundancy, and the Intelligent-Tiering frequent tier is for active data.

Question 34Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A company wants its virtual private cloud to reach Amazon S3 without sending traffic over the public internet or through a NAT gateway. Which VPC feature provides this?

  1. AWS Site-to-Site VPN
  2. An internet gateway with a route table entry
  3. A NAT gateway in a public subnet
  4. A gateway VPC endpoint for Amazon S3 Correct answer.

Explanation

A gateway VPC endpoint attaches to a route table and routes traffic to S3 over the AWS private network, avoiding internet egress and NAT charges. Internet and NAT gateways both traverse public addressing paths, and a VPN connects to on-premises networks rather than to S3 directly.

Question 35Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A solutions architect must design a system that tolerates the loss of a single Availability Zone while keeping write latency low. Which approach is most appropriate?

  1. Deploy across at least two Availability Zones and replicate data synchronously between them Correct answer.
  2. Deploy all resources in one Availability Zone and rely on snapshots for recovery
  3. Deploy to a single Region using edge locations for write traffic
  4. Deploy across multiple Regions and replicate asynchronously between them

Explanation

Spreading resources across two or more Availability Zones within a Region protects against an AZ failure, and synchronous replication between them keeps write latency low because the zones are close together. Multi-Region designs add cross-Region latency and address a different failure scope.

Question 36Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A company wants to run a stateless web application that must scale to zero when unused and incur no charges for idle capacity. Which compute approach fits best?

  1. A dedicated EC2 instance reserved for one year
  2. An Auto Scaling group with a minimum size of one EC2 instance
  3. An Amazon ECS cluster on EC2 with a fixed task count
  4. AWS Lambda invoked through an API Gateway HTTP API Correct answer.

Explanation

Lambda is event-driven and billed per invocation and compute duration, so it scales to zero when there is no traffic. The other options keep at least one instance or task running and therefore incur idle cost.

Question 37Cloud Concepts and Architecture

An architect is evaluating a shared file system that many Linux EC2 instances must mount concurrently and that must remain available if one Availability Zone fails. Which AWS service is designed for this?

  1. Amazon EBS volumes attached to each instance
  2. Instance store volumes on each instance
  3. Amazon EFS with mount targets in multiple Availability Zones Correct answer.
  4. Amazon S3 accessed through the AWS Management Console

Explanation

Amazon EFS is a managed NFS file system that can be mounted by many instances at once, and creating mount targets in multiple Availability Zones provides AZ-resilient access. EBS and instance store are block storage attached to individual instances, and S3 is object storage rather than a mountable POSIX file system.

Question 38Cloud Concepts and Architecture

An application must handle unpredictable read spikes against a relational database without changing the application's SQL queries. Which approach best absorbs the spikes?

  1. Add read replicas and route read traffic to them Correct answer.
  2. Replace the database with a key-value store and rewrite the queries
  3. Increase the size of the primary instance and route all traffic to it
  4. Move the database to a single-AZ deployment to reduce replication overhead

Explanation

Read replicas offload read traffic from the primary instance and can be added or removed as demand changes, which absorbs spikes while keeping the same SQL interface. Vertical scaling has a fixed ceiling, single-AZ reduces resilience, and rewriting to a key-value store changes the query model.

Question 39Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A company operates workloads in several AWS accounts and wants a single place to apply service control policies that restrict which services can be used. Which AWS construct provides this?

  1. AWS Identity and Access Management users in each account
  2. Amazon Cognito user pools
  3. AWS Shield Advanced
  4. AWS Organizations with service control policies Correct answer.

Explanation

AWS Organizations groups accounts and applies service control policies that set the maximum permissions available to accounts in the organization. IAM users are per-account identities, Cognito manages application users, and Shield Advanced is DDoS protection.

Question 40Cloud Concepts and Architecture

A regulated workload must keep all data and processing within a single country, but the company wants low-latency access for users in that country. Which design satisfies both constraints?

  1. Deploy into the nearest Region outside the country and replicate data back for local users
  2. Deploy into multiple Regions worldwide and rely on encryption to satisfy the requirement
  3. Deploy into an AWS Region located in that country and use edge locations within the country for content delivery Correct answer.
  4. Deploy into a single Availability Zone in any Region and use a global accelerator

Explanation

Choosing a Region inside the country keeps storage and processing within the required boundary, while in-country edge locations improve latency for content delivery without moving data processing abroad. Multi-Region or out-of-country designs violate the residency constraint.

Question 41Compute and Application Services

A solutions architect needs a managed service to run containerized workloads without provisioning or managing servers, with per-request billing. Which AWS compute service best fits this requirement?

  1. Amazon EC2 On-Demand instances
  2. AWS Fargate Correct answer.
  3. Amazon ECS on EC2 launch type
  4. AWS Batch with managed compute environments

Explanation

Fargate is a serverless compute engine for containers that removes the need to provision or manage EC2 hosts and bills per vCPU and memory used by the task. EC2-based options require the customer to choose and patch instances.

Question 42Compute and Application Services

An application running on an EC2 instance must retrieve credentials for calling other AWS services without storing long-term keys on disk. Which mechanism should be used?

  1. An access key ID and secret access key in a configuration file
  2. AWS KMS-encrypted environment variables holding IAM user keys
  3. A Cognito identity pool unauthenticated role
  4. An IAM role attached to the instance profile Correct answer.

Explanation

An IAM role attached through an instance profile lets the EC2 instance obtain temporary credentials from the instance metadata service, which rotate automatically and never require storing static keys. Static IAM user keys on disk are a long-term exposure risk.

Question 43Compute and Application Services

A workload runs steadily for three years with predictable capacity. Which purchasing option typically yields the lowest cost for this EC2 usage?

  1. Spot Instances
  2. On-Demand Instances
  3. Savings Plans or Reserved Instances for a three-year term Correct answer.
  4. Dedicated Hosts

Explanation

Long-term commitments such as Savings Plans or Reserved Instances trade flexibility for significant discounts compared with On-Demand pricing for steady-state workloads. Spot is cheaper but can be interrupted, which is unsuitable for a workload that must run continuously.

Question 44Compute and Application Services

Which AWS service provides a fully managed, serverless compute option for running code in response to events without managing servers?

  1. AWS Lambda Correct answer.
  2. Amazon ECS
  3. AWS Elastic Beanstalk
  4. Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling

Explanation

Lambda runs functions on demand in response to events, scales automatically, and requires no server provisioning. The other services either require you to manage capacity or orchestrate infrastructure you own.

Question 45Compute and Application Services

An application needs a shared file system that many Linux EC2 instances can mount concurrently and that scales capacity automatically. Which service should be used?

  1. Instance store volumes
  2. Amazon EBS with io2 volumes
  3. Amazon EFS Correct answer.
  4. Amazon S3 with mounted buckets

Explanation

Amazon EFS is a managed NFS file system that supports concurrent mounts from many Linux instances and scales storage elastically. EBS and instance store volumes attach to a single instance.

Question 46Compute and Application Services

A company wants to run a batch job that processes millions of queued items and automatically retries failed jobs across a fleet of compute resources. Which service is purpose-built for this?

  1. AWS Batch Correct answer.
  2. AWS Step Functions Express Workflows alone
  3. AWS Lambda with a single long-running function
  4. Amazon API Gateway

Explanation

AWS Batch schedules and manages batch computing jobs, provisioning compute resources and handling job queues and retries. Lambda has a maximum execution duration and is not designed for long-running batch job orchestration at this scale.

Question 47Compute and Application Services

Which Elastic Load Balancing type operates at the connection level and is best suited for extreme performance and preserving source IP for TCP traffic?

  1. Classic Load Balancer
  2. Gateway Load Balancer
  3. Application Load Balancer
  4. Network Load Balancer Correct answer.

Explanation

Network Load Balancer works at layer 4, handles millions of requests per second with very low latency, and preserves client source IP addresses for TCP traffic. Application Load Balancer is layer 7 and focuses on HTTP routing.

Question 48Compute and Application Services

A developer wants to deploy a containerized web application to AWS with automatic scaling of tasks and no cluster or instance management. Which combination is the most direct fit?

  1. Amazon EMR on EC2 clusters
  2. Amazon EC2 with a launch template and manual scaling
  3. AWS Elastic Beanstalk with the single-instance environment type
  4. Amazon ECS with the Fargate launch type and an Application Load Balancer Correct answer.

Explanation

ECS with Fargate runs containers without managing servers, and service auto scaling adjusts task count based on demand while the ALB distributes traffic. Manual EC2 scaling and single-instance Beanstalk do not provide managed container scaling.

Question 49Compute and Application Services

A Lambda function frequently exceeds its configured timeout when processing large payloads. Which change most directly addresses the root cause?

  1. Enable X-Ray active tracing
  2. Increase the function's memory allocation
  3. Increase the function's timeout value Correct answer.
  4. Move the function into a VPC

Explanation

The Lambda timeout setting defines the maximum execution time; if processing legitimately needs longer than the current value, raising the timeout allows completion up to the service maximum. Memory affects CPU share but does not extend the hard time limit.

Question 50Compute and Application Services

An Auto Scaling group must keep at least four instances running at all times while scaling between four and twelve instances based on CPU. Which configuration achieves this?

  1. Desired capacity 4 with no scaling policy attached
  2. Minimum capacity 0, maximum capacity 12, scheduled scaling
  3. Minimum capacity 4, maximum capacity 12, target tracking on average CPU Correct answer.
  4. Minimum capacity 12, maximum capacity 12, step scaling

Explanation

Setting the minimum to 4 guarantees at least four instances, the maximum of 12 caps growth, and a target tracking policy adjusts capacity with load. Without a policy the group will not respond to CPU changes.