AWS Certified Data Engineer Associate · Free Practice Question Medium
Question 42
A company is deploying a stateful application on Amazon EC2 that requires temporary storage for processing large datasets with maximum I/O. The application must also maintain a smaller subset of essential state data that needs to persist beyond the life of the instance. The company needs a storage solution that ensures the essential data is not lost if the EC2 instance is stopped or terminated.
Which combination of storage solutions should the company choose?
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A
Attach Amazon EC2 instance store volumes for temporary data processing and Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) for essential state data.
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B
Attach Amazon EBS volumes for essential state data and use Amazon DynamoDB for temporary data.
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C
Attach additional Amazon EBS volumes for temporary data processing and rely on the root device volume for essential state data.
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D
Implement a combination of Amazon EC2 instance store volumes for rapid I/O and EBS snapshots for daily backups of essential data.
Reveal correct answer
Correct answer: A
Explanation
Instance store volumes provide high I/O for temporary data processing but do not offer data persistence after an EC2 instance is stopped or terminated. For essential state data that needs to be retained long-term, EBS is the appropriate choice because it persists independently of the EC2 instance's life cycle and allows for data durability and snapshot backups
CORRECT: "Attach Amazon EC2 instance store volumes for temporary data processing and Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) for essential state data" is the correct answer (as explained above.)
INCORRECT: "Attach Amazon EBS volumes for essential state data and use Amazon DynamoDB for temporary data" is incorrect.
EBS is the correct choice for the essential state data but DynamoDB may not be the most effective choice for the temporary data. Using a local instance store volume would provide higher I/O.
INCORRECT: "Attach additional Amazon EBS volumes for temporary data processing and rely on the root device volume for essential state data" is incorrect.
Using EBS for both temporary processing and essential data is a secure method to ensure data persistence. However, it might not be the most cost-effective approach for temporary data processing needs when compared to instance store volumes, which are included with EC2 instances at no extra cost.
INCORRECT: "Implement a combination of Amazon EC2 instance store volumes for rapid I/O and EBS snapshots for daily backups of essential data" is incorrect.
This option misunderstands the purpose of EBS snapshots, which are meant for backups and not for real-time data persistence. While snapshots are critical for backup strategy, they are not a replacement for persistent storage required for essential state data.
References:
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/InstanceStorage.html
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https://digitalcloud.training/aws-certified-data-engineer-associate-cheat-sheet/
Discussion
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