A high-performance database requires the absolute maximum IOPS from an EBS volume, with consistent sub-millisecond latency and the ability to scale to 256,000 IOPS. Which EBS volume type should be selected?
- Agp3 (General Purpose SSD) — max 16,000 IOPS; cost-effective for most workloads but not max performance.
- Bst1 (Throughput Optimised HDD) — up to 500 MB/s throughput; HDD-based, not suited for high IOPS databases.
- Cio1 (Provisioned IOPS SSD) — up to 64,000 IOPS; high performance but not the maximum available.
- Dio2 Block Express — up to 256,000 IOPS, 4,000 MB/s throughput, sub-millisecond latency; the highest-performance EBS option.✓ Correct
EBS volume types: gp2/gp3 — General Purpose SSD (max 16,000 IOPS). io1/io2 — Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1: 64K IOPS, io2: 64K IOPS on standard, io2 Block Express: 256K IOPS). st1 — Throughput HDD (500 MB/s, for sequential workloads like log processing). sc1 — Cold HDD (250 MB/s, lowest cost, infrequent access). io2 Block Express requires Nitro-based instances.
Multiple EC2 instances running a web application need to share the same file system concurrently, with POSIX-compliant access and automatic scaling of storage capacity. Which AWS storage service is MOST appropriate?
- AAmazon EBS — block storage that can only be attached to one EC2 instance at a time (except Multi-Attach for io1/io2, limited to 16 instances in the same AZ).
- BAmazon S3 — object storage with eventual consistency; not a POSIX-compliant file system.
- CAmazon EFS (Elastic File System) — fully managed NFS that can be mounted on thousands of EC2 instances simultaneously, auto-scales, POSIX-compliant.✓ Correct
- DAmazon FSx for Lustre — high-performance parallel file system; better for HPC/ML, not general multi-instance web application sharing.
Amazon EFS is a managed NFS (Network File System) that supports thousands of concurrent NFS clients. It automatically scales from gigabytes to petabytes. EFS offers two performance modes (General Purpose, Max I/O) and two throughput modes (Bursting, Provisioned). It is multi-AZ by default (Regional) or Single-AZ for cost savings. Use EFS for shared web content, CMS data, and container storage.
A company runs Windows-based applications on EC2 that require a shared file system with Active Directory integration, Windows ACL support, DFS namespaces, and SMB protocol. Which service is MOST appropriate?
- AAmazon EFS — NFS protocol only; not natively compatible with Windows SMB or Active Directory.
- BAmazon S3 — object storage; no SMB protocol or Windows ACL support.
- CAmazon FSx for Windows File Server — fully managed Windows-native SMB file system with Active Directory integration and Windows ACL support.✓ Correct
- DAmazon EBS with shared access — EBS does not natively support SMB or Active Directory.
FSx for Windows File Server is built on Windows Server with native SMB protocol support, NTFS file system, Active Directory integration, DFS namespaces, and Windows ACLs. It is ideal for Windows workloads (home directories, SharePoint, SQL Server, .NET apps). FSx for Lustre is optimised for HPC and ML workloads requiring high throughput and low latency.
An EC2 instance with a root EBS volume is terminated. What is the DEFAULT behaviour for the root EBS volume?
- AThe root volume is automatically retained and must be manually deleted.
- BThe root volume is deleted by default (DeleteOnTermination is set to true for root volumes when an instance is launched).✓ Correct
- CThe root volume is automatically converted to a snapshot and stored in S3.
- DThe root volume is detached and remains available as an unattached volume.
By default: Root EBS volumes have DeleteOnTermination=true (deleted when instance terminates). Additional data EBS volumes have DeleteOnTermination=false (retained when instance terminates). You can change the DeleteOnTermination attribute at launch or while the instance is running. EBS Snapshots are NOT automatically created on termination — you must create them explicitly.
A genomics company runs HPC workloads on EC2 that require a high-throughput, low-latency shared file system with POSIX compliance, capable of delivering hundreds of GB/s and millions of IOPS. The data is also stored in S3. Which storage service is MOST suitable?
- AAmazon EFS — suitable for general shared file access but not optimised for HPC throughput at hundreds of GB/s.
- BAmazon EBS io2 — high-performance block storage but cannot be shared across many instances simultaneously.
- CAmazon FSx for Windows File Server — Windows-native SMB file system; not designed for Linux HPC/genomics workloads.
- DAmazon FSx for Lustre — a high-performance parallel file system for HPC and ML, natively integrated with S3, delivering sub-millisecond latency at scale.✓ Correct
FSx for Lustre is purpose-built for high-performance computing (HPC), machine learning, and financial modelling. It is the open-source Lustre file system managed by AWS. Key features: hundreds of GB/s throughput, millions of IOPS, sub-millisecond latency, native S3 integration (lazy load from S3, write-back to S3), and POSIX compliance. Ideal for genomics, simulation, video rendering, and big data analytics.