Amazon SAA-C03 Practice Test - Questions Answers, Page 65

This option is the most secure and simple way to encrypt the secrets that are stored in Amazon EKS. AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) is a service that allows you to create and manage encryption keys that can be used to encrypt your data. Amazon EKS KMS secrets encryption is a feature that enables you to use a KMS key to encrypt the secrets that are stored in the Kubernetes etcd key-value store. This provides an additional layer of protection for your sensitive data, such as passwords, tokens, and keys. You can create a new KMS key or use an existing one, and then enable the Amazon EKS KMS secrets encryption on the Amazon EKS cluster. You can also use IAM policies to control who can access or use the KMS key.

Option A is not correct because using AWS Secrets Manager to manage, rotate, and store all secrets in Amazon EKS is not necessary or efficient. AWS Secrets Manager is a service that helps you securely store, retrieve, and rotate your secrets, such as database credentials, API keys, and passwords. You can use it to manage secrets that are used by your applications or services outside of Amazon EKS, but it is not designed to encrypt the secrets that are stored in the Kubernetes etcd key-value store. Moreover, using AWS Secrets Manager would incur additional costs and complexity, and it would not leverage the native Kubernetes secrets management capabilities.

Option C is not correct because using the Amazon EBS Container Storage Interface (CSI) driver as an add-on does not encrypt the secrets that are stored in Amazon EKS. The Amazon EBS CSI driver is a plugin that allows you to use Amazon EBS volumes as persistent storage for your Kubernetes pods. It is useful for providing durable and scalable storage for your applications, but it does not affect the encryption of the secrets that are stored in the Kubernetes etcd key-value store. Moreover, using the Amazon EBS CSI driver would require additional configuration and resources, and it would not provide the same level of security as using a KMS key.

Option D is not correct because creating a new AWS KMS key with the alias aws/ebs and enabling default Amazon EBS volume encryption for the account does not encrypt the secrets that are stored in Amazon EKS. The alias aws/ebs is a reserved alias that is used by AWS to create a default KMS key for your account. This key is used to encrypt the Amazon EBS volumes that are created in your account, unless you specify a different KMS key. Enabling default Amazon EBS volume encryption for the account is a setting that ensures that all new Amazon EBS volumes are encrypted by default. However, these features do not affect the encryption of the secrets that are stored in the Kubernetes etcd key-value store. Moreover, using the default KMS key or the default encryption setting would not provide the same level of control and security as using a custom KMS key and enabling the Amazon EKS KMS secrets encryption feature.Reference:

Encrypting secrets used in Amazon EKS

What Is AWS Key Management Service?

What Is AWS Secrets Manager?

Amazon EBS CSI driver

Encryption at rest

These options are the best solutions because they allow the company to run the application with Docker containers in the AWS Cloud using a managed service that scales automatically and does not require any infrastructure to manage. By using AWS Fargate, the company can launch and run containers without having to provision, configure, or scale clusters of EC2 instances. Fargate allocates the right amount of compute resources for each container and scales them up or down as needed. By using Amazon ECS or Amazon EKS, the company can choose the container orchestration platform that suits its needs. Amazon ECS is a fully managed service that integrates with other AWS services and simplifies the deployment and management of containers. Amazon EKS is a managed service that runs Kubernetes on AWS and provides compatibility with existing Kubernetes tools and plugins.

C) Provision an Amazon API Gateway API Connect the API to AWS Lambda to run the containers. This option is not feasible because AWS Lambda does not support running Docker containers directly. Lambda functions are executed in a sandboxed environment that is isolated from other functions and resources. To run Docker containers on Lambda, the company would need to use a custom runtime or a wrapper library that emulates the Docker API, which can introduce additional complexity and overhead.

D) Use Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS) with Amazon EC2 worker nodes. This option is not optimal because it requires the company to manage the EC2 instances that host the containers. The company would need to provision, configure, scale, patch, and monitor the EC2 instances, which can increase the operational overhead and infrastructure costs.

E) Use Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) with Amazon EC2 worker nodes. This option is not ideal because it requires the company to manage the EC2 instances that host the containers. The company would need to provision, configure, scale, patch, and monitor the EC2 instances, which can increase the operational overhead and infrastructure costs.

1AWS Fargate - Amazon Web Services

2Amazon Elastic Container Service - Amazon Web Services

3Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service - Amazon Web Services

4AWS Lambda FAQs - Amazon Web Services

This option is the most cost-effective and simple way to enable SFTP access to the S3 data lake. AWS Transfer Family is a fully managed service that supports secure file transfers over SFTP, FTPS, and FTP protocols. You can create an SFTP-enabled server with a public endpoint and associate it with your S3 bucket. You can also use AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles and policies to control access to your S3 data lake. The service scales automatically to handle any volume of file transfers and provides high availability and durability. You do not need to provision, manage, or patch any servers or load balancers.

Option B is not correct because Amazon S3 File Gateway is not an SFTP server. It is a hybrid cloud storage service that provides a local file system interface to S3. You can use it to store and retrieve files as objects in S3 using standard file protocols such as NFS and SMB. However, it does not support SFTP protocol, and it requires deploying a file gateway appliance on-premises or on EC2.

Option C is not cost-effective or scalable because it requires launching and managing an EC2 instance in a private subnet and setting up a VPN connection for the new partner. This would incur additional costs for the EC2 instance, the VPN connection, and the data transfer. It would also introduce complexity and security risks to the solution. Moreover, it would require running a cron job script on the EC2 instance to upload files to the S3 data lake, which is not efficient or reliable.

Option D is not cost-effective or scalable because it requires launching and managing multiple EC2 instances in a private subnet and placing a NLB in front of them. This would incur additional costs for the EC2 instances, the NLB, and the data transfer. It would also introduce complexity and security risks to the solution. Moreover, it would require running a cron job script on the EC2 instances to upload files to the S3 data lake, which is not efficient or reliable.Reference:

What Is AWS Transfer Family?

What Is Amazon S3 File Gateway?

What Is Amazon EC2?

[What Is Amazon Virtual Private Cloud?]

[What Is a Network Load Balancer?]

This option is the most cost-effective solution because it leverages the Spot Instances, which are unused EC2 instances that are available at up to 90% discount compared to On-Demand prices. Spot Instances can be interrupted by AWS when the demand for On-Demand instances increases, but since the batch jobs are fault-tolerant and can be reprocessed by another instance, this is not a major issue. By using a launch template, the company can specify the configuration of the Spot Instances, such as the instance type, the operating system, and the user data. By using an Auto Scaling group, the company can automatically scale the number of Spot Instances based on the CPU usage, which reflects the load of the batch jobs. This way, the company can optimize the performance and the cost of the EC2 instances for the nightly batch jobs.

A) Purchase a 1-year Savings Plan for Amazon EC2 that covers the instance family of the Auto Scaling group that the batch job uses. This option is not optimal because it requires a commitment to a consistent amount of compute usage per hour for a one-year term, regardless of the instance type, size, region, or operating system. This can limit the flexibility and scalability of the Auto Scaling group and result in overpaying for unused compute capacity. Moreover, Savings Plans do not provide a capacity reservation, which means the company still needs to reserve capacity with On-Demand Capacity Reservations and pay lower prices with Savings Plans.

B) Purchase a 1-year Reserved Instance for the specific instance type and operating system of the instances in the Auto Scaling group that the batch job uses. This option is not ideal because it requires a commitment to a specific instance configuration for a one-year term, which can reduce the flexibility and scalability of the Auto Scaling group and result in overpaying for unused compute capacity. Moreover, Reserved Instances do not provide a capacity reservation, which means the company still needs to reserve capacity with On-Demand Capacity Reservations and pay lower prices with Reserved Instances.

D) Create a new launch template for the Auto Scaling group Increase the instance size Set a policy to scale out based on CPU usage. This option is not cost-effective because it does not take advantage of the lower prices of Spot Instances. Increasing the instance size can improve the performance of the batch jobs, but it can also increase the cost of the On-Demand instances. Moreover, scaling out based on CPU usage can result in launching more instances than needed, which can also increase the cost of the system.

1Spot Instances - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud

2Launch templates - Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud

3Auto Scaling groups - Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling

[4] Savings Plans - Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances and Other AWS Reservation Models

AWS Glue is a serverless data integration service that can crawl, catalog, and prepare data for analysis. AWS Glue can automatically discover the schema and partitioning of the data stored in Apache Parquet format in S3, and create a table in the AWS Glue Data Catalog. Amazon Athena is a serverless interactive query service that can run SQL queries directly on data in S3, without requiring any data loading or transformation. Athena can use the table metadata from the AWS Glue Data Catalog to query the data in S3. By using AWS Glue and Athena, you can analyze the log files in S3 most cost-effectively, as you only pay for the resources consumed by the crawler and the queries, and you do not need to provision or manage any servers or clusters.

AWS Glue

Amazon Athena

Analyzing Data in S3 using Amazon Athena

This solution meets the following requirements:

It is operationally efficient, as it only requires one transit gateway and one transit VIF to connect the Direct Connect connection to all the VPCs in the same AWS Region. The transit gateway acts as a regional network hub that simplifies the network management and reduces the number of VIFs and gateways needed.

It is scalable, as it can support up to 5000 attachments per transit gateway, which can include VPCs, VPNs, Direct Connect gateways, and peering connections. The transit gateway can also be connected to other transit gateways in different Regions or accounts using peering connections, enabling cross-Region and cross-account connectivity.

It is flexible, as it allows each VPC to communicate with all other VPCs and on-premises networks using dynamic routing protocols such as Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). The transit gateway's route propagation feature automatically propagates the routes from the attached VPCs and VPNs to the transit gateway route table, eliminating the need to manually update the route tables.

Transit Gateways - Amazon Virtual Private Cloud

Working with transit gateways - AWS Direct Connect

Amazon VPC-to-Amazon VPC connectivity options - Amazon Virtual Private Cloud Connectivity Options

This option is the most suitable way to improve the game's metadata load times without migrating the database. Amazon ElastiCache for Redis is a fully managed, in-memory data store that provides sub-millisecond latency and high throughput for read-intensive workloads. You can use it as a caching layer in front of your RDS DB instance to store frequently accessed metadata and reduce the load on the database. You can also take advantage of Redis features such as snapshots, replication, and data persistence to ensure data durability and availability. ElastiCache for Redis scales automatically to meet your demand and integrates with other AWS services such as CloudFormation, CloudWatch, and IAM.

Option A is not optimal because migrating the database to Amazon Aurora with Aurora Replicas would incur additional costs and complexity. Amazon Aurora is a relational database service that provides high performance, availability, and compatibility with MySQL and PostgreSQL. Aurora Replicas are read-only copies of the primary database that can be used for scaling read capacity and enhancing availability. However, migrating the database to Aurora would require modifying the application code, testing the compatibility, and performing the data migration. Moreover, Aurora Replicas may not provide sub-millisecond response times as ElastiCache for Redis does.

Option B is not optimal because migrating the database to Amazon DynamoDB with global tables would incur additional costs and complexity. Amazon DynamoDB is a NoSQL database service that provides fast and flexible data access for any scale. Global tables are a feature of DynamoDB that enables you to replicate your data across multiple AWS Regions for high availability and performance. However, migrating the database to DynamoDB would require changing the data model, modifying the application code, and performing the data migration. Moreover, global tables may not be necessary for the game's metadata, as they are mainly used for cross-region data access and disaster recovery.

Option D is not optimal because adding an Amazon ElastiCache for Memcached layer in front of the database would not provide the same capabilities as ElastiCache for Redis. Amazon ElastiCache for Memcached is another fully managed, in-memory data store that provides high performance and scalability for caching workloads. However, Memcached does not support snapshots, replication, or data persistence, which means that the cached data may be lost in case of a node failure or a cache eviction. Moreover, Memcached does not integrate with other AWS services as well as Redis does. Therefore, ElastiCache for Redis is a better choice for this scenario.Reference:

What Is Amazon ElastiCache for Redis?

What Is Amazon Aurora?

What Is Amazon DynamoDB?

What Is Amazon ElastiCache for Memcached?

This solution meets the following requirements:

It is operationally efficient, as it only requires one activation of the cost allocation tag and one creation of the cost report from the management account, which has access to all the member accounts' data and billing pReference.

It is consistent, as it uses the AWS-defined cost allocation tag named department, which is automatically applied to resources when the company creates tags using the tagging policy enforced by AWS Organizations. This ensures that the tag name and value are the same across all the resources and accounts, and avoids any discrepancies or errors that might arise from user-defined tags.

It is informative, as it creates one cost report in Cost Explorer grouping by the tag name, and filters by EC2. This allows the accounting team to see the breakdown of EC2 consumption and costs by department, regardless of the AWS account. The team can also use other features of Cost Explorer, such as charts, filters, and forecasts, to analyze and optimize the spending.

Using AWS cost allocation tags - AWS Billing

User-defined cost allocation tags - AWS Billing

Cost Tagging and Reporting with AWS Organizations

A transit gateway is a network transit hub that enables you to connect your VPCs and on-premises networks in a centralized and scalable way. You can create VPC attachments to connect your VPCs to the transit gateway, and VPN attachments to connect your on-premises networks to the transit gateway over the internet. The transit gateway acts as a router between the attached networks, and simplifies the administration of new connections by reducing the number of peering or VPN connections required. You can also use transit gateway route tables to control the routing of traffic between the attached networks. By creating a transit gateway and using VPC and VPN attachments, you can meet the requirements of the company with the least administrative overhead.

AWS Transit Gateway

Transit gateway attachments

Transit gateway route tables