Amazon AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate SAA-C03 Exam Dumps and Practice Test Questions Set 6 Q101-120

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Question 101:

A company wants to migrate an on-premises MySQL database to AWS with minimal downtime, ensuring automated backups, high availability, and automatic scaling. Which architecture is most suitable?

Answer:

A) Amazon RDS Multi-AZ MySQL with AWS DMS
B) EC2 with self-managed MySQL
C) S3 Standard only
D) DynamoDB

Explanation:

Option A is correct. Amazon RDS Multi-AZ provides high availability by synchronously replicating data to a standby instance in a separate Availability Zone, enabling automatic failover in case of primary instance failure. AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) allows near-zero downtime migration by continuously replicating changes from the on-premises MySQL database to RDS, reducing downtime during the migration process.

EC2 with self-managed MySQL requires manual setup of replication, backups, failover, and scaling, increasing operational complexity and risk. S3 is object storage and not suitable for transactional database workloads. DynamoDB is a NoSQL database and cannot natively support MySQL workloads or relational queries.

DMS supports both homogeneous and heterogeneous migrations, with schema conversion if needed. Multi-AZ RDS handles backups automatically, provides automated patching, and ensures disaster recovery readiness. Security measures include encryption at rest using KMS, SSL/TLS for data in transit, and IAM policies for access control.

CloudWatch monitors metrics such as CPU utilization, storage space, read/write IOPS, and replica lag. CloudTrail audits migration actions and API calls. DMS also supports validation to ensure data consistency between source and target databases.

This architecture allows organizations to reduce operational overhead while providing a reliable, scalable, and secure solution for migrating MySQL databases to AWS. It aligns with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for operational excellence, security, reliability, and performance efficiency.

Question 102:

A company wants to provide low-latency access to frequently accessed data stored in S3 for a global audience while minimizing cost. Which AWS service combination is recommended?

Answer:

A) Amazon CloudFront with S3 origin
B) S3 only
C) EC2 only
D) RDS only

Explanation:

Option A is correct. CloudFront is a global Content Delivery Network (CDN) that caches content at edge locations worldwide, reducing latency and improving performance for end users. By serving cached content, CloudFront reduces the number of requests hitting the S3 origin, which minimizes data transfer costs and origin load. HTTPS ensures encrypted communication between users and edge locations.

S3 alone delivers content but does not provide edge caching or acceleration for global users. EC2 alone requires manual setup of a web server, load balancing, and scaling, which is not efficient for content delivery at a global scale. RDS is relational storage and cannot serve static or dynamic web content.

CloudFront supports caching strategies such as Time-to-Live (TTL) settings, cache invalidation, and Lambda@Edge for custom content processing at edge locations. AWS WAF integration provides protection against common attacks like SQL injection and XSS, while AWS Shield protects against DDoS attacks.

CloudWatch metrics monitor requests, cache hit/miss ratios, latency, and errors. Logging and analytics allow organizations to optimize caching strategies and improve performance further. Edge caching not only reduces latency but also reduces operational costs and ensures a reliable user experience.

This architecture is ideal for web applications, media streaming, e-commerce platforms, and global content distribution. It ensures scalability, fault tolerance, and security, aligning with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for performance efficiency, reliability, cost optimization, and operational excellence.

Option A is the recommended solution for providing low-latency access to frequently accessed data stored in S3 for a global audience while minimizing cost. Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network that caches content at edge locations worldwide, ensuring that users access data from a location geographically close to them. This significantly reduces latency, improves performance, and enhances the overall user experience. By serving cached content from edge locations, CloudFront also decreases the number of direct requests to the S3 origin, which lowers data transfer costs and reduces the load on the origin storage. Secure communication is maintained through HTTPS, protecting data in transit and ensuring confidentiality.

Using S3 alone, as suggested in option B, can store and serve content but cannot accelerate delivery for a global audience. Requests from distant regions would have higher latency, and repeated access would increase data transfer costs without caching benefits. EC2 alone, as in option C, would require manual deployment of web servers, load balancers, and scaling configurations to achieve global reach, which introduces operational complexity and higher costs. Option D, RDS, is a relational database service, which is not suitable for serving static or dynamic web content and does not provide content delivery capabilities.

CloudFront offers flexible caching strategies, including customizable time-to-live (TTL) settings and cache invalidation to refresh content when necessary. Lambda@Edge allows organizations to execute code closer to users, enabling dynamic content modification, request and response customization, and personalized content delivery. Integration with AWS WAF provides protection against common web application threats such as cross-site scripting and SQL injection, while AWS Shield safeguards against DDoS attacks. CloudWatch monitoring provides insights into request patterns, cache hit ratios, latency, and errors, enabling organizations to optimize performance and adjust caching strategies based on analytics and traffic trends.

This combination of CloudFront and S3 ensures a scalable, cost-efficient, and high-performance solution for global content delivery. It reduces operational overhead, supports reliability, improves user experience, and aligns with AWS best practices for security, performance, and operational excellence. By leveraging CloudFront with an S3 origin, organizations can provide fast, secure, and reliable access to data for users around the world while minimizing infrastructure and operational costs.

Question 103:

A company wants to build a serverless workflow that triggers when files are uploaded to S3, transforms the data, and stores it in a database for analytics. Which services should be used together?

Answer:

A) S3, Lambda, and DynamoDB
B) EC2, RDS, and S3
C) S3 only
D) Elastic Beanstalk with RDS

Explanation:

Option A is correct. S3 can generate event notifications when objects are created, which can trigger Lambda functions to process the uploaded data. Lambda provides scalable serverless compute that handles transformations without requiring infrastructure management. DynamoDB provides fast, highly available, and scalable storage for the processed results.

EC2 requires manual provisioning, scaling, and monitoring. S3 alone cannot process data. Elastic Beanstalk provides a managed application platform but is not serverless and requires server management.

This architecture offers fault tolerance, operational simplicity, and cost efficiency, as organizations only pay for Lambda execution time and DynamoDB storage. Lambda integrates with IAM to enforce least-privilege access to resources. Step Functions can be added to orchestrate multi-step workflows, handle retries, and implement error handling.

CloudWatch monitors Lambda executions, logs errors, and tracks performance. Security is enforced via IAM roles and policies, and encryption is applied both at rest (DynamoDB/KMS) and in transit (HTTPS).

Serverless architectures allow organizations to process data at scale with minimal operational overhead, maintain high availability, and provide real-time analytics capabilities. This approach aligns with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for operational excellence, reliability, performance efficiency, and security.

Question 104:

A company wants to migrate a legacy application to AWS that requires high availability, fault tolerance, and automatic scaling. Which architecture is most suitable?

Answer:

A) EC2 Auto Scaling group, Application Load Balancer (ALB), and RDS Multi-AZ
B) Single EC2 instance
C) S3 only
D) Lambda only

Explanation:

Option A is correct. EC2 Auto Scaling groups automatically adjust the number of instances based on load metrics like CPU utilization or request count, ensuring that the application can handle variable traffic. The ALB distributes traffic across healthy instances, improving fault tolerance and availability. RDS Multi-AZ provides high availability for the relational database layer with automatic failover to a standby instance.

A single EC2 instance creates a single point of failure and cannot handle traffic spikes. S3 alone is suitable for static websites but cannot host dynamic applications. Lambda is serverless but is not ideal for multi-tier applications with relational database dependencies without additional orchestration.

Auto Scaling ensures elasticity, ALB performs health checks and routes traffic efficiently, and RDS Multi-AZ ensures high availability for database workloads. Security best practices include placing EC2 instances in private subnets, using security groups, encrypting RDS storage with KMS, and enabling IAM roles for secure access.

Monitoring through CloudWatch provides visibility into CPU, memory, database connections, and network throughput. CloudTrail audits API calls and operational actions. Automated snapshots and backups ensure data durability.

This architecture provides scalability, high availability, fault tolerance, and security, reducing operational complexity. It aligns with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for operational excellence, reliability, performance efficiency, and cost optimization.

Option A is the most suitable architecture for migrating a legacy application to AWS that requires high availability, fault tolerance, and automatic scaling. Using EC2 Auto Scaling groups ensures that the application can handle variable traffic loads by automatically increasing or decreasing the number of instances based on metrics such as CPU utilization, memory usage, or request count. This elasticity allows the system to respond to traffic spikes without manual intervention and reduces operational costs during low-traffic periods. The Application Load Balancer distributes incoming requests evenly across healthy EC2 instances, improving fault tolerance and ensuring that users experience consistent performance even if some instances fail.

RDS Multi-AZ provides high availability for the relational database layer. It automatically replicates data to a standby instance in a different Availability Zone and performs automatic failover in case of primary database failure. This ensures that database-dependent applications experience minimal downtime. Security best practices in this architecture include placing EC2 instances in private subnets, using security groups to control inbound and outbound traffic, encrypting RDS storage using AWS Key Management Service, and assigning IAM roles to instances for secure access to other AWS services without embedding credentials.

A single EC2 instance, as in option B, creates a single point of failure and cannot accommodate traffic spikes, making it unsuitable for production workloads requiring high availability. S3 alone, option C, is suitable for static content but cannot host dynamic, multi-tier applications. Lambda, option D, is serverless and excellent for event-driven workloads but does not natively support multi-tier applications with relational databases without additional orchestration.

Monitoring and operational management are simplified through CloudWatch, which tracks metrics such as CPU, memory, database connections, and network throughput, enabling proactive scaling and troubleshooting. CloudTrail provides detailed logging and auditing of API calls and operational actions, ensuring compliance and operational visibility. Automated snapshots, backups, and Multi-AZ failover ensure data durability and resilience. This architecture delivers scalable, highly available, and fault-tolerant application hosting while reducing operational complexity, aligning with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for operational excellence, reliability, performance efficiency, and cost optimization.

Question 105:

A company wants to analyze IoT sensor data in near real-time and store results in a database that scales automatically to handle high-volume traffic. Which AWS services are recommended?

Answer:

A) Amazon Kinesis Data Streams, Lambda, and DynamoDB
B) EC2 with cron jobs
C) S3 only
D) RDS Multi-AZ

Explanation:

Option A is correct. Kinesis Data Streams ingests streaming IoT data, partitions it for parallel processing, and provides durable storage for a configurable retention period. Lambda processes incoming data in real-time, performing transformations, enrichment, and validations. DynamoDB stores results for low-latency, highly available access and automatically scales to handle increases in traffic.

EC2 with cron jobs is batch-oriented, requires manual scaling, and cannot handle near real-time data efficiently. S3 supports batch storage but not low-latency analytics. RDS Multi-AZ provides high availability for relational workloads but may struggle with high-velocity streaming data unless manually sharded and scaled.

Kinesis allows replaying data for error recovery. Lambda scales automatically with incoming streams and supports error handling with dead-letter queues. DynamoDB’s auto-scaling, single-digit millisecond latency, and encryption at rest make it ideal for real-time analytics.

CloudWatch monitors stream throughput, Lambda execution metrics, and DynamoDB performance. CloudTrail logs API actions for auditing. IAM roles enforce secure access, and KMS provides encryption for sensitive data. Step Functions can orchestrate multi-step workflows for additional analytics or alerting.

This architecture ensures operational efficiency, fault tolerance, and scalability for real-time IoT analytics. Organizations can monitor devices globally, detect anomalies, and trigger alerts automatically, aligning with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for reliability, operational excellence, security, and performance efficiency.

Question 106:

A company wants to deploy a global web application with low latency and high availability while maintaining a single codebase. Which AWS service combination is most appropriate?

Answer:

A) Amazon CloudFront with S3/EC2 origin and Route 53 latency-based routing
B) EC2 in a single region
C) S3 only
D) Lambda only

Explanation:

Option A is correct. Amazon CloudFront provides a global Content Delivery Network (CDN), caching both static and dynamic content at edge locations worldwide, which significantly reduces latency for users regardless of their geographic location. By integrating with Route 53 latency-based routing, user requests are directed to the closest AWS region that hosts the application backend (EC2 or S3 origin), ensuring fast response times and high availability.

Deploying EC2 in a single region without CloudFront increases latency for distant users and creates a single point of failure. S3 alone cannot host dynamic applications requiring compute logic. Lambda is serverless and can handle compute, but dynamic content requires additional orchestration for global deployment and may not maintain a single consistent codebase without complex routing.

CloudFront also supports caching strategies to improve performance, reduce origin load, and optimize cost. Lambda@Edge can run lightweight code at edge locations, enabling request and response manipulation for personalization or security checks. CloudWatch monitors cache hits, request counts, latency, and errors, while CloudTrail logs API activity for audit purposes.

Security features include AWS WAF integration to protect against web application attacks, Shield for DDoS mitigation, and HTTPS to ensure secure data transfer. CloudFront signed URLs or signed cookies can restrict access to specific users or timeframes.

This architecture achieves operational simplicity, scalability, and resilience. By distributing traffic globally, the application avoids regional failures, ensuring continuous availability. It supports auto-scaling of EC2 or Lambda backends based on demand and integrates seamlessly with managed services like RDS or DynamoDB for storage.

By leveraging CloudFront, S3/EC2 origins, and Route 53 latency-based routing, organizations achieve a globally accessible, highly performant, and fault-tolerant architecture. This aligns with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for operational excellence, performance efficiency, reliability, security, and cost optimization.

Question 107:

A company wants to provide temporary, secure access to S3 objects for external partners without creating IAM users. Which solution is recommended?

Answer:

A) Pre-signed URLs
B) Public S3 bucket
C) Shared IAM credentials
D) S3 Standard only

Explanation:

Option A is correct. Pre-signed URLs allow temporary access to specific S3 objects without requiring external users to have AWS credentials. These URLs embed a signature and an expiration time, limiting access to a defined period. This ensures security and minimizes the risk of unauthorized access.

Public S3 buckets are insecure and expose data to anyone. Sharing IAM credentials violates security best practices, risking unauthorized access and audit issues. S3 Standard is merely a storage class and does not provide access control mechanisms.

Pre-signed URLs can be generated dynamically using Lambda, API Gateway, or SDKs. They integrate with existing security controls, ensuring encryption at rest (SSE-KMS) and secure transfer over HTTPS. CloudTrail logs all access events, providing auditing and compliance capabilities.

This solution allows for secure, cost-effective, and automated sharing of data for temporary purposes such as document exchange, media content distribution, or vendor collaboration. Organizations can enforce least privilege, limit exposure, and maintain audit trails while eliminating the need for manual user management.

The architecture aligns with AWS Well-Architected principles of security, operational excellence, and reliability. By using pre-signed URLs, enterprises can maintain governance, compliance, and operational efficiency without compromising user experience or increasing administrative overhead.

Option A is the recommended solution for providing temporary and secure access to S3 objects for external partners without creating IAM users. Pre-signed URLs allow an organization to grant time-limited permissions to specific S3 objects, enabling users to upload or download files without needing AWS credentials. The URL contains an embedded signature and expiration timestamp, ensuring that access is strictly limited to a defined duration. This method maintains security while providing a seamless experience for external collaborators.

Using a public S3 bucket, as in option B, is insecure because it exposes data to anyone with the URL or knowledge of the bucket, which could lead to unauthorized access. Sharing IAM credentials, as suggested in option C, is highly discouraged because it violates the principle of least privilege, introduces security risks, and complicates auditing. Option D, S3 Standard, refers only to the storage class and provides no access control or temporary access capabilities, making it unsuitable for this use case.

Pre-signed URLs can be generated dynamically through AWS SDKs, Lambda functions, or API Gateway endpoints, allowing automated workflows and integration with existing applications. Organizations can ensure encryption at rest using SSE-KMS or SSE-S3 and encrypt data in transit with HTTPS, providing end-to-end protection. AWS CloudTrail captures all requests made with pre-signed URLs, offering auditing and compliance visibility. Administrators can track who accessed which objects and when, helping to meet regulatory requirements such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, or GDPR.

This solution is particularly useful for scenarios such as secure document sharing, media content delivery, and collaboration with third-party vendors. By using pre-signed URLs, organizations enforce least-privilege access, limit exposure of sensitive data, and eliminate the need to manage temporary IAM users. It reduces operational complexity and administrative overhead while maintaining strong security controls. This architecture aligns with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for security, operational excellence, and reliability. Overall, pre-signed URLs provide a secure, scalable, and cost-effective way to share data temporarily with external partners while preserving control and compliance over organizational assets.

Question 108:

A company needs a scalable, fault-tolerant caching solution for a web application to reduce load on the database. Which service should be used?

Answer:

A) Amazon ElastiCache (Redis)
B) S3 only
C) DynamoDB
D) RDS Multi-AZ

Explanation:

Option A is correct. Amazon ElastiCache (Redis) provides an in-memory caching layer that reduces database load, accelerates application performance, and supports both read-heavy and write-heavy workloads. Redis supports replication, persistence, and automatic failover, ensuring fault tolerance and high availability.

S3 is object storage and unsuitable as a caching layer. DynamoDB is a NoSQL database and not optimized for in-memory caching. RDS Multi-AZ ensures database availability but does not provide low-latency caching to reduce response times.

ElastiCache supports clustering and read replicas for scalability and reliability. Integration with VPCs and security groups enforces secure network access. CloudWatch provides metrics such as cache hits, misses, memory usage, and CPU utilization for performance monitoring.

Use cases include session management, leaderboard tracking, real-time analytics, and frequently accessed content. ElastiCache reduces latency to microseconds, lowers operational overhead, and improves system scalability.

By leveraging ElastiCache, organizations achieve a high-performance, resilient, and scalable caching architecture that aligns with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for performance efficiency, operational excellence, and reliability.

Question 109:

A company wants to implement real-time analytics on streaming IoT data and store processed data in a low-latency database. Which AWS architecture is appropriate?

Answer:

A) Amazon Kinesis Data Streams, Lambda, and DynamoDB
B) EC2 batch jobs
C) S3 only
D) RDS Multi-AZ

Explanation:

Option A is correct. Kinesis Data Streams captures high-velocity IoT data and partitions it for parallel processing. Lambda functions process data in near real-time, performing transformations, enrichment, and validation. DynamoDB stores results for low-latency, scalable access.

EC2 batch jobs are unsuitable for real-time processing and require manual scaling. S3 is batch-oriented and cannot support low-latency analytics. RDS Multi-AZ provides relational storage but is not optimized for streaming data workloads.

Kinesis ensures durability, reprocessing capabilities, and auto-scaling of shards. Lambda scales automatically to handle incoming data and supports error handling with dead-letter queues. DynamoDB provides single-digit millisecond latency and automatic scaling.

CloudWatch monitors throughput, errors, and latency. CloudTrail logs API calls for auditing. IAM roles enforce secure access, and KMS encrypts sensitive data at rest. Step Functions can orchestrate multi-step workflows for alerting or additional processing.

This architecture supports IoT analytics, monitoring, anomaly detection, and real-time dashboards. It reduces operational complexity, scales automatically, and ensures fault tolerance, aligning with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for performance efficiency, operational excellence, reliability, and security.

Question 110:

A company wants to enforce encryption and deny public access for all S3 buckets across multiple accounts automatically. Which combination of services is most suitable?

Answer:

A) AWS Config with AWS Organizations
B) S3 only
C) IAM policies alone
D) EC2 instances

Explanation:

Option A is correct. AWS Config evaluates S3 bucket configurations and enforces organizational rules such as mandatory encryption and no public access. AWS Organizations allows centralized policy enforcement across multiple accounts, ensuring compliance with company standards.

S3 alone cannot enforce policies across accounts. IAM policies cannot automatically enforce encryption or public access prevention. EC2 does not provide governance capabilities for S3 buckets.

Config rules can trigger automated remediation, applying bucket policies or enabling encryption when non-compliance is detected. Aggregators consolidate compliance data from multiple accounts and regions. CloudWatch alarms provide alerts for non-compliant resources.

This architecture improves security posture, reduces risk, and ensures adherence to regulatory standards such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, or GDPR. Integration with CloudTrail enables full auditing of S3 activity. Automated remediation ensures compliance without manual intervention, supporting operational efficiency.

By leveraging AWS Config with Organizations, enterprises enforce consistent security policies, automate compliance, and reduce misconfiguration risks, fully aligning with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for security, operational excellence, and reliability.

Option A is the most suitable combination of services for enforcing encryption and denying public access for all S3 buckets across multiple accounts automatically. AWS Config continuously monitors and evaluates the configurations of S3 buckets to ensure compliance with defined rules, such as requiring server-side encryption and blocking public access. When non-compliant resources are detected, AWS Config can trigger automated remediation actions, such as applying bucket policies, enabling default encryption, or adjusting access control lists. By using AWS Organizations, these rules can be applied consistently across multiple AWS accounts, allowing centralized governance and ensuring that all accounts adhere to the same security and compliance standards.

Using S3 alone, as in option B, does not provide the ability to enforce policies across multiple accounts or automatically remediate non-compliant buckets. IAM policies alone, as in option C, can restrict actions for users within an account but cannot automatically enforce encryption or block public access at scale across an organization. EC2 instances, as in option D, do not provide governance or compliance monitoring for S3 resources and would require complex custom scripts, making them inefficient and error-prone.

AWS Config allows organizations to create compliance rules for S3 buckets, such as ensuring that encryption using SSE-S3 or SSE-KMS is enabled and that public access settings are restricted. Config aggregators can collect compliance data from multiple accounts and regions, giving a centralized view of organizational compliance. CloudWatch alarms can notify administrators of non-compliant resources, enabling rapid response. Integration with CloudTrail provides a full audit trail of S3 activity, including configuration changes and access events, which supports regulatory compliance requirements such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, and GDPR.

This architecture improves overall security posture by minimizing the risk of accidental data exposure and ensuring that sensitive data is always encrypted. Automated remediation reduces operational overhead and eliminates the need for manual intervention while maintaining continuous compliance across all accounts. By combining AWS Config with AWS Organizations, companies can enforce organization-wide S3 security policies, streamline audits, and ensure consistent enforcement of encryption and access controls across their AWS environment, achieving both operational efficiency and regulatory adherence.

Question 111:

A company wants to build a secure, highly available, and fault-tolerant web application that can scale automatically with user demand. Which architecture is most suitable?

Answer:

A) EC2 Auto Scaling group, Application Load Balancer (ALB), and RDS Multi-AZ
B) Single EC2 instance
C) S3 only
D) Lambda only

Explanation:

Option A is correct. Using EC2 Auto Scaling ensures that the number of instances adjusts automatically based on incoming traffic, maintaining performance during peak demand and minimizing costs during low usage. The Application Load Balancer distributes traffic evenly across healthy EC2 instances, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance. RDS Multi-AZ provides a highly available relational database with synchronous replication to a standby instance in a separate Availability Zone, supporting automatic failover during database failures.

A single EC2 instance creates a single point of failure and cannot handle high traffic volumes. S3 is suitable for static website hosting but cannot execute dynamic application logic. Lambda is serverless but requires a redesign of traditional multi-tier applications to accommodate database interactions, and persistent relational storage is not natively supported.

EC2 Auto Scaling integrates with CloudWatch to monitor metrics such as CPU utilization, request counts, and memory usage. The ALB performs health checks and routes traffic only to healthy instances, improving fault tolerance. RDS Multi-AZ automatically handles failover without manual intervention, while automated backups and snapshots ensure data durability.

Security is enhanced by deploying EC2 instances in private subnets, configuring security groups, and using IAM roles for least-privilege access to AWS services. Data at rest is encrypted using KMS, and data in transit is protected using TLS/HTTPS. CloudTrail captures all API calls for auditing purposes.

This architecture also aligns with the AWS Well-Architected Framework, emphasizing operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, and cost optimization. By combining Auto Scaling, ALB, and RDS Multi-AZ, the organization ensures a resilient, scalable, and secure web application capable of handling unpredictable workloads while reducing operational overhead.

Question 112:

A company wants to implement a real-time dashboard for IoT data, ensuring low-latency updates and global accessibility. Which services should be used together?

Answer:

A) Amazon Kinesis Data Streams, Lambda, DynamoDB, and Amazon QuickSight
B) EC2 with batch scripts
C) S3 only
D) RDS Multi-AZ

Explanation:

Option A is correct. Kinesis Data Streams ingests high-volume IoT data streams in real-time. Lambda functions process incoming data instantly, performing transformations, aggregations, and validations. DynamoDB stores processed data with low-latency access and scales automatically to handle variable workloads. QuickSight provides real-time visualizations of the processed data, allowing stakeholders to monitor metrics, trends, and anomalies.

EC2 batch jobs cannot handle near real-time data and require manual scaling and maintenance. S3 is primarily for storage and batch analytics, not low-latency streaming data. RDS Multi-AZ provides high availability but is not optimized for real-time streaming workloads at massive scale.

Kinesis ensures durability, partitioning for parallel processing, and reprocessing capabilities. Lambda automatically scales in response to incoming events, and dead-letter queues handle failed events. DynamoDB provides millisecond latency, encryption at rest using KMS, and global replication options for multi-region access.

CloudWatch monitors throughput, processing latency, and Lambda performance, while CloudTrail logs API calls for auditing purposes. Step Functions can orchestrate complex workflows for error handling, notifications, or downstream processing. Security is enforced using IAM roles, VPC endpoints, and encryption both in transit (HTTPS) and at rest.

This architecture is ideal for industrial IoT monitoring, real-time analytics, and operational dashboards. It reduces operational complexity, scales automatically, and ensures fault tolerance and global accessibility. By using managed services, organizations achieve cost optimization, operational excellence, and high performance while adhering to AWS Well-Architected Framework principles.

Question 113:

A company wants to provide secure, temporary access to objects in S3 for partners without creating IAM users, ensuring compliance and auditability. Which solution is most appropriate?

Answer:

A) Pre-signed URLs with CloudTrail logging
B) Public S3 bucket
C) Shared IAM credentials
D) S3 Standard only

Explanation:

Option A is correct. Pre-signed URLs grant time-limited access to specific S3 objects without exposing AWS credentials. These URLs include a cryptographic signature and expiration timestamp, allowing users to perform only the intended operation (upload or download) within a defined period.

Public S3 buckets are insecure and can expose sensitive data. Sharing IAM credentials is a security risk and violates the principle of least privilege. S3 Standard is merely a storage class and does not provide access control mechanisms.

Pre-signed URLs can be generated dynamically through Lambda functions, API Gateway endpoints, or SDKs. The URLs integrate with existing security controls, ensuring encryption at rest via SSE-KMS and in transit using HTTPS. CloudTrail logs all access, enabling auditing and compliance monitoring.

This solution allows organizations to securely share sensitive information with external vendors, maintain operational efficiency, and avoid manual user management. Policies can define expiration, restrict access to specific objects, and log usage for auditing purposes. Pre-signed URLs provide a temporary and controlled access model that scales automatically with demand, ensuring high security and minimal operational effort.

By leveraging pre-signed URLs with CloudTrail, enterprises align with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for operational excellence, security, and reliability, while maintaining a cost-effective and scalable solution for temporary external access

Question 114:

A company wants to enforce encryption for all S3 buckets across multiple AWS accounts automatically. Which solution is recommended?

Answer:

A) AWS Config with AWS Organizations
B) S3 only
C) IAM policies alone
D) EC2 instances

Explanation:

Option A is correct. AWS Config enables evaluation of S3 bucket configurations against organizational policies, such as enforcing encryption at rest and denying public access. When integrated with AWS Organizations, Config rules can be applied centrally across all accounts, ensuring uniform security compliance and governance.

S3 alone cannot enforce organization-wide policies. IAM policies cannot automatically detect or remediate non-compliant buckets. EC2 instances do not provide governance or compliance monitoring for S3.

Config rules can trigger automatic remediation, such as enabling encryption or applying bucket policies. Aggregators consolidate compliance data from multiple accounts and regions, providing centralized monitoring. CloudWatch alarms notify administrators of non-compliant resources. CloudTrail logs all API actions, supporting auditing and regulatory compliance.

This architecture ensures security, operational efficiency, and governance. Automated enforcement reduces human error and operational overhead, while continuous compliance monitoring ensures adherence to industry standards and regulatory requirements such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR.

By combining AWS Config and Organizations, enterprises achieve centralized security governance, maintain consistent compliance, and automate enforcement, aligning with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for security, operational excellence, and reliability.

Question 115:

A company wants to reduce database load and improve performance for read-heavy web applications. Which AWS service is most suitable?

Answer:

A) Amazon ElastiCache (Redis)
B) S3 only
C) DynamoDB
D) RDS Multi-AZ

Explanation:

Option A is correct. Amazon ElastiCache (Redis) provides an in-memory caching layer, reducing database load and accelerating application performance. Redis supports replication, clustering, persistence, and automatic failover, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance.

S3 cannot serve as a caching layer. DynamoDB is a NoSQL database and not optimized as a caching solution for relational workloads. RDS Multi-AZ ensures database availability but does not reduce query latency or database load for read-heavy applications.

ElastiCache improves response times to microseconds, supports session management, real-time analytics, and leaderboards. It integrates with VPCs and security groups to secure network access. CloudWatch provides performance metrics such as cache hits, misses, memory usage, and CPU utilization, allowing fine-tuning of caching strategies.

By using ElastiCache, organizations enhance application performance, reduce latency, and improve scalability while maintaining high availability. This aligns with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for performance efficiency, operational excellence, and reliability.

Option A is the most suitable solution for reducing database load and improving performance for read-heavy web applications. Amazon ElastiCache, specifically using Redis, provides an in-memory caching layer that stores frequently accessed data in memory, enabling applications to retrieve data in microseconds rather than milliseconds or seconds from a backend database. By offloading read operations to the cache, ElastiCache reduces the number of queries hitting the primary database, which improves overall performance, decreases latency, and allows the database to focus on write-heavy or transactional workloads.

Redis supports advanced features such as replication, clustering, persistence, and automatic failover. Replication allows multiple read replicas, increasing read scalability and ensuring that cache queries are highly available. Clustering enables horizontal scaling to support larger datasets and high throughput. Persistence options, such as snapshotting and append-only files, help protect data against accidental loss, while automatic failover ensures continuous availability in the event of a node failure. These capabilities make ElastiCache a robust solution for mission-critical applications that require low-latency access and fault tolerance.

Other options are less suitable for this scenario. S3, as in option B, is object storage and cannot function as a caching layer for database queries. DynamoDB, option C, is a NoSQL database that provides fast read and write operations but does not serve as a caching solution for relational or other databases. RDS Multi-AZ, option D, ensures database availability and failover protection but does not reduce query latency or offload read operations from the primary instance, making it insufficient for read-heavy workloads.

ElastiCache integrates securely with Amazon VPCs and can be managed through security groups, providing controlled access to the caching layer. CloudWatch monitoring tracks key metrics such as cache hits and misses, memory usage, CPU utilization, and replication status, allowing administrators to optimize caching strategies and performance. Common use cases include session management, leaderboards, real-time analytics, and frequently queried datasets. By leveraging ElastiCache, organizations can significantly enhance application performance, reduce latency, and improve scalability while maintaining high availability, aligning with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for operational excellence, performance efficiency, and reliability.

Question 116:

A company wants to analyze large datasets stored in S3 without moving the data to a data warehouse. Which AWS service should be used?

Answer:

A) Amazon Athena
B) RDS
C) EC2 with custom scripts
D) DynamoDB

Explanation:

Option A is correct. Amazon Athena allows SQL queries directly against S3 objects, providing serverless, on-demand analytics without requiring data migration. Athena charges based on the amount of data scanned, offering cost-effective querying.

RDS requires data loading and ongoing maintenance. EC2 scripts are operationally intensive and lack serverless scalability. DynamoDB is NoSQL and cannot efficiently query large unstructured datasets.

Athena integrates with AWS Glue Data Catalog to manage schemas and partitions, improving query performance. Queries can be executed ad-hoc or scheduled. CloudWatch monitors query execution metrics, while IAM and KMS ensure secure access and encryption.

This approach provides cost optimization, operational efficiency, and rapid insights from historical data. Athena reduces administrative overhead, enables fast analytics, and aligns with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for performance efficiency, operational excellence, cost optimization, and security.

Question 117:

A company wants to migrate an on-premises Oracle database to AWS while minimizing downtime and ensuring continuous replication. Which service is most suitable?

Answer:

A) AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with Amazon RDS Multi-AZ
B) EC2 with self-managed Oracle
C) S3 only
D) DynamoDB

Explanation:

Option A is correct. AWS DMS enables continuous replication from on-premises Oracle databases to Amazon RDS or Amazon Aurora, minimizing downtime during migration. RDS Multi-AZ ensures high availability and fault tolerance, automatically failing over in case of an outage.

EC2 with self-managed Oracle increases operational complexity and maintenance overhead. S3 is not a relational database. DynamoDB is NoSQL and incompatible with Oracle workloads.

DMS supports homogeneous migrations with minimal disruption and validates data integrity. Multi-AZ RDS provides automatic backups, patching, and disaster recovery. Security is enforced through encryption (KMS), IAM roles, and network access controls. CloudWatch monitors replication performance, and CloudTrail provides auditing.

This solution ensures operational efficiency, high availability, and data consistency during migration while minimizing downtime. It aligns with AWS Well-Architected principles for reliability, operational excellence, security, and performance efficiency.

Question 118:

A company wants to provide global low-latency access to a web application while protecting against DDoS attacks. Which architecture is recommended?

Answer:

A) CloudFront with S3/EC2 origin, AWS WAF, and HTTPS
B) EC2 in a single region
C) S3 only
D) Direct Connect

Explanation:

Option A is correct. CloudFront caches content at edge locations globally, reducing latency. AWS WAF protects against web attacks, and HTTPS ensures secure communication. CloudFront also integrates with AWS Shield for DDoS protection.

EC2 in a single region cannot deliver low latency to global users and is a single point of failure. S3 alone cannot host dynamic applications. Direct Connect provides private connectivity but does not optimize content delivery or provide DDoS protection.

CloudFront caching reduces origin load, improves performance, and supports Lambda@Edge for request/response modification. CloudWatch monitors latency, cache hits, and errors. CloudTrail logs API activity.

This architecture ensures high availability, scalability, and security, aligning with AWS Well-Architected principles for performance efficiency, operational excellence, security, and reliability.

Question 119:

A company wants to implement automated compliance checks and remediation for IAM policies across multiple accounts. Which solution is most suitable?

Answer:

A) AWS Config with AWS Organizations
B) IAM policies alone
C) EC2 instances
D) S3 only

Explanation:

Option A is correct. AWS Config evaluates IAM policies against compliance rules and AWS Organizations enables centralized enforcement across multiple accounts. Automated remediation can be configured to fix non-compliant policies.

IAM alone cannot enforce compliance across accounts. EC2 instances cannot provide governance. S3 only stores data and does not enforce policy compliance.

This approach ensures governance, reduces manual effort, improves security, and provides auditability. CloudWatch and CloudTrail provide monitoring and logging. Organizations can maintain consistent compliance, supporting regulatory requirements and aligning with AWS Well-Architected principles for security, operational excellence, and reliability.

Question 120:

A company wants to deploy a serverless application that scales automatically based on demand and only charges for usage. Which architecture is appropriate?

Answer:

A) AWS Lambda, API Gateway, and DynamoDB
B) EC2 instances
C) Elastic Beanstalk with RDS
D) S3 only

Explanation:

Option A is correct. Lambda provides compute that scales automatically with incoming requests, API Gateway handles HTTP requests, and DynamoDB offers scalable, low-latency storage.

EC2 requires manual scaling and management. Elastic Beanstalk partially manages infrastructure but is not fully serverless. S3 alone cannot execute dynamic application logic.

Serverless architecture reduces operational complexity and costs, supports fault tolerance, and provides high performance. CloudWatch monitors execution metrics, CloudTrail audits actions, and IAM enforces secure access. This aligns with AWS Well-Architected Framework principles for cost optimization, operational excellence, security, and performance efficiency.