SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Test 27 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company has a legacy application that runs on an EC2 instance with a large attached EBS volume. The application writes log files to the volume, and the volume is frequently full, causing application errors. The Solutions Architect needs to implement a solution to automatically manage disk space without application changes. Which solution meets these requirements?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Install the CloudWatch Logs agent and stream logs to CloudWatch Logs, then delete local logs.. The CloudWatch Logs agent can be installed to stream existing log files to CloudWatch Logs without modifying the application. After streaming, the agent can be configured to delete local log files to free disk space. This directly addresses the requirement to automatically manage disk space without application changes. Option C is incorrect because Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager (DLM) automates the creation and deletion of EBS snapshots, not the management of disk space within the volume. It does not delete log files or otherwise free in-volume space.

Answer

Configure an S3 Lifecycle policy to transition log files to Amazon S3 Glacier after 30 days.

Answer

Increase the EBS volume size and enable auto-scaling.

Answer

Use a script with Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager to snapshot the volume and delete old snapshots.

Question 2

A company is using AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy a web application. The application's performance degrades over time due to increasing database connections. The company wants to implement a solution that automatically scales the database tier based on connection count. Which action should be taken?

Accepted Answer

Use Amazon RDS Proxy to manage database connections and enable connection pooling.. Amazon RDS Proxy manages connection pooling and can scale with application, reducing load on database. Option A is wrong because DynamoDB is a different database. Option C is wrong because scaling EC2 instances does not address database connections. Option D is wrong because modifying RDS instance type is manual and not automatic.

Answer

Migrate the database to Amazon DynamoDB with auto scaling.

Answer

Enable Multi-AZ on the RDS instance and modify the DB instance class.

Answer

Configure the Auto Scaling group to scale based on CPU utilization.

Question 3

A company uses AWS CloudTrail to log API activity. The compliance team requires that logs be stored for 7 years and be immediately accessible for the first 90 days, after which access can take up to 12 hours. Which storage solution meets these requirements cost-effectively?

Accepted Answer

Store logs in Amazon S3 Standard for 90 days, then transition to Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive.. S3 Standard provides immediate access for the first 90 days, and then transitioning to S3 Glacier Deep Archive (retrieval time up to 12 hours) meets the 7-year retention requirement at the lowest cost. Option A is wrong: while S3 Glacier can also provide retrieval within 12 hours (via its Bulk retrieval option), S3 Glacier Deep Archive is more cost-effective for long-term archival with comparable retrieval times. Option B is wrong: S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access is not durable enough for compliance (single Availability Zone) and deleting after 90 days does not satisfy the 7-year retention requirement. Option D is wrong: S3 Standard-Infrequent Access is for infrequent access but transitioning to S3 Standard is more expensive, and the lifecycle policy does not achieve the 7-year retention.

Answer

Store logs in Amazon S3 Standard for 90 days, then transition to Amazon S3 Glacier for the remainder.

Answer

Store logs in Amazon S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access for 90 days, then delete.

Answer

Store logs in Amazon S3 Standard-Infrequent Access for 90 days, then transition to Amazon S3 Standard.

Question 4

A company runs a containerized microservices application on Amazon ECS with Fargate launch type. The application experiences intermittent latency spikes. The team wants to capture network traffic between containers for troubleshooting. Which solution should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Enable VPC Flow Logs on the ENIs attached to the ECS tasks.. Using Amazon ECS task networking with VPC and enabling VPC Flow Logs captures network traffic metadata. Option A is wrong because AWS X-Ray captures application-level traces, not network packets. Option B is wrong because CloudWatch Logs agent captures logs, not network traffic. Option C is wrong because ECS Exec allows shell access but not traffic capture.

Answer

Enable AWS X-Ray tracing on the ECS tasks.

Answer

Configure the awslogs driver to send container logs to CloudWatch Logs.

Answer

Use Amazon ECS Exec to access containers and run tcpdump.

Question 5

A company's security team wants to ensure that all S3 buckets are encrypted at rest. They have thousands of existing buckets. Which approach should a Solutions Architect use to identify noncompliant buckets?

Accepted Answer

Create an AWS Config rule to evaluate S3 bucket encryption settings.. AWS Config provides managed rules to evaluate resource compliance. The 's3-bucket-server-side-encryption-enabled' rule checks if S3 buckets have server-side encryption enabled. This can be applied to all buckets in the account. Option A is incorrect because while AWS Trusted Advisor can check for bucket encryption, AWS Config is specifically designed for continuous compliance monitoring and auditing at scale, making it the better approach for identifying noncompliant buckets across thousands of resources. Option B is incorrect: CloudTrail logs record API calls (like PutBucketEncryption), but do not show the current encryption configuration of existing buckets. Option C is incorrect: S3 Inventory provides a list of objects and their metadata, but it does not directly indicate bucket-level encryption settings; it focuses on object-level encryption.

Answer

Use AWS Trusted Advisor to check bucket encryption.

Answer

Analyze AWS CloudTrail logs for PutBucketEncryption API calls.

Answer

Enable S3 Inventory to list all objects and their encryption status.

Question 6

A company is migrating a legacy application to AWS. The application requires a relational database with high I/O and low latency. The database size is 2 TB and growing. The Solutions Architect must choose a storage solution that provides the best price-performance. Which TWO solutions meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Use Amazon Aurora with I/O-Optimized cluster configuration.. Options A and B are correct: Amazon Aurora with I/O-Optimized cluster configuration provides high I/O and low latency for demanding workloads, often at a lower cost than Provisioned IOPS for sustained high I/O. Amazon RDS with Provisioned IOPS (io2) volumes delivers consistent low latency and high throughput, suitable for I/O-intensive applications. Option C is wrong because DynamoDB is a NoSQL database, not a relational one. Option D is wrong because Redshift is a data warehouse for analytics, not a relational database for OLTP. Option E is wrong because gp3 storage is general-purpose and not optimized for high I/O workloads.

Answer

Use Amazon DynamoDB with provisioned capacity.

Answer

Use Amazon Redshift with dense compute nodes.

Answer

Use Amazon RDS with gp3 storage.

Question 7

A company is using AWS CodePipeline to automate deployments. The pipeline includes a build stage that compiles code and runs tests. The build stage fails intermittently due to network timeouts when downloading dependencies. Which THREE actions could improve the reliability of the build stage?

Accepted Answer

Use CodeBuild local cache to store dependencies across builds.. Options B, C, and D are correct: Using CodeBuild local cache (B) stores dependencies across builds, reducing download time. Running CodeBuild in a VPC with a NAT gateway (C) ensures consistent outbound connectivity, mitigating network timeouts. Storing dependencies in an S3 bucket and configuring the build to use cached dependencies (D) also reduces reliance on external downloads. Option A is incorrect because increasing the timeout only delays the failure but does not address the root cause. Option E is incorrect because a larger compute type may improve build speed but does not fix network timeouts.

Answer

Increase the build timeout to allow more time for downloads.

Answer

Use a larger compute type for CodeBuild to improve network speed.

Question 8

An e-commerce company runs a customer-facing application on AWS. The application architecture includes an Application Load Balancer (ALB), EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group, and an Amazon RDS for MySQL Multi-AZ DB instance. The application uses a custom web server that stores session data in a local file system. During peak traffic, users experience session timeouts and errors. The operations team observes that the Auto Scaling group launches new instances and terminates old ones frequently. The team wants to improve the user experience and ensure session persistence. The Solutions Architect proposes to modify the application to store session data in an external store. However, due to a legacy code dependency, the application cannot be modified in the short term. Which solution should the Solutions Architect implement to resolve the session persistence issue without modifying the application?

Accepted Answer

Enable sticky sessions (session affinity) on the ALB and configure the Auto Scaling group to use a lifecycle hook to drain connections before instance termination.. Enabling sticky sessions on the ALB ensures that a user's requests are always routed to the same instance, preserving the local session files. Additionally, configuring a lifecycle hook to drain connections before instance termination prevents session loss during scale-in events. Option A is incorrect because ElastiCache requires application code changes to use it. Option C is incorrect because DynamoDB also requires code changes. Option D is incorrect because scaling down based on memory does not prevent session loss; it may cause more terminations.

Answer

Replace the local file system storage with an Amazon ElastiCache for Redis cluster that is external to the instances.

Answer

Store session data in Amazon DynamoDB and configure the application to use the DynamoDB session handler.

Answer

Configure the Auto Scaling group to scale down based on memory utilization rather than CPU, to reduce termination frequency.

Question 9

A company runs a batch processing application on AWS. The application reads input files from an S3 bucket, processes them on EC2 instances, and writes results to another S3 bucket. The processing job runs once a day and takes approximately 3 hours. The company wants to reduce costs and operational overhead. The Solutions Architect suggests using AWS Lambda for processing, but the processing time per file can exceed the Lambda maximum execution time of 15 minutes. The architect also considers using AWS Batch. The company wants to minimize the need for infrastructure management. Which solution should the Solutions Architect recommend?

Accepted Answer

Use AWS Batch with a managed compute environment that uses Spot Instances and a job queue.. AWS Batch with a managed compute environment automatically handles job scheduling, scaling, and infrastructure provisioning. It can accommodate long-running jobs beyond Lambda's 15-minute limit and uses Spot Instances to reduce costs, minimizing operational overhead. Option A is incorrect because managing EC2 instances and Auto Scaling requires more operational effort than using a managed service like AWS Batch. Option B is incorrect because even with increased memory, Lambda has a maximum execution time of 15 minutes, which may not be sufficient for processing files that exceed this limit. Option D is incorrect because while ECS with Fargate reduces infrastructure management, AWS Batch is specifically designed for batch processing and provides more features like job queues, automatic retries, and integration with Spot Instances, making it a better fit for this use case.

Answer

Provision a fleet of EC2 instances and use Auto Scaling to manage the processing.

Answer

Use AWS Lambda with a larger memory allocation to increase CPU and reduce processing time.

Answer

Use Amazon ECS with Fargate launch type and run the processing as a task.

Question 10

A company runs a static website on Amazon S3 with a custom domain using Amazon Route 53. The website content is updated frequently by multiple developers. The company wants to implement a workflow where updates are automatically tested and deployed. They have existing CI/CD tools that integrate with AWS CodeCommit. The Solutions Architect needs to design a deployment pipeline that rebuilds the website only when changes are pushed to the main branch, and then invalidates the Amazon CloudFront cache if a CloudFront distribution is used. Which solution meets these requirements with the least operational overhead?

Accepted Answer

Use AWS CodePipeline with a source stage tied to CodeCommit, a build stage using AWS CodeBuild, and a deploy stage that syncs the S3 bucket and invalidates CloudFront.. AWS CodePipeline with a source stage from CodeCommit, a build stage using CodeBuild, and a deploy stage that syncs to S3 and invalidates CloudFront provides a fully managed CI/CD pipeline with minimal operational overhead. Option A is wrong because CloudFormation is for infrastructure provisioning, not for building a deployment pipeline triggered by code pushes. Option B is wrong because S3 event notifications trigger Lambda functions for simple tasks, not for full CI/CD build and deploy workflows. Option D is wrong because Lambda@Edge is for processing requests at edge locations, not for building and deploying static content.

Answer

Use AWS CloudFormation with a custom resource that triggers a build on CodeCommit push.

Answer

Configure an S3 event notification to invoke an AWS Lambda function that builds and deploys the website.

Answer

Use AWS Lambda@Edge to generate the website on the fly and cache at CloudFront.

Question 11

A development team deploys a web application on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. The application experiences intermittent 503 errors. A Solutions Architect notices that the errors coincide with high CPU utilization on the EC2 instances. What is the MOST effective way to improve the application's availability?

Accepted Answer

Configure an Auto Scaling group for the EC2 instances with a scaling policy based on average CPU utilization.. An Auto Scaling group with a scaling policy based on average CPU utilization dynamically adds or removes EC2 instances to handle load spikes, reducing 503 errors. Option A is wrong because increasing the idle timeout on the ALB does not address high CPU utilization on the instances. Option B is wrong because decreasing the health check interval may cause premature instance replacement without resolving the underlying capacity issue. Option D is wrong because using larger instance types may help but does not provide dynamic scaling and may be less cost-effective; it does not automatically adjust to fluctuating demand.

Answer

Increase the idle timeout setting on the Application Load Balancer.

Answer

Decrease the health check interval on the Application Load Balancer.

Answer

Use larger EC2 instance types to handle the load.

Question 12

A company runs a critical application on Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL. The database performance has degraded over time. The Solutions Architect notices that read queries are slow and the DB instance's ReadIOPS metric is consistently high. Which action would improve read performance with minimal operational overhead?

Accepted Answer

Create an RDS read replica and redirect read queries to it.. Creating an RDS read replica (Option D) offloads read traffic from the primary instance, reducing ReadIOPS and improving read query performance. This requires minimal operational overhead because Amazon RDS manages the replica. Option A is incorrect: increasing storage can help with IOPS limits but does not directly reduce read load. Option B is incorrect: Multi-AZ provides high availability, not read scalability. Option C is incorrect: migrating to Aurora involves more effort and is not the simplest solution.

Answer

Increase the allocated storage of the DB instance.

Answer

Enable Multi-AZ deployment for the DB instance.

Answer

Migrate the database to Amazon Aurora with PostgreSQL compatibility.

Question 13

A company uses AWS Lambda functions within a VPC to process data from an Amazon SQS queue. The Lambda functions frequently timeout with the error 'Task timed out after 3.00 seconds'. The functions perform database operations on an RDS instance in the same VPC. The average database query takes 2 seconds. What is the MOST likely cause of the timeouts?

Accepted Answer

The VPC does not have a NAT gateway, so the Lambda function cannot poll the SQS queue.. Lambda functions in a VPC require a NAT gateway or VPC endpoints to access the SQS API, which is outside the VPC. Without a NAT gateway, the function cannot poll the SQS queue, causing timeouts. Option A is wrong because Lambda can access RDS within the same VPC without special permissions. Option C is wrong because the timeout is due to SQS polling failure, not the database query time. Option D is wrong because the RDS instance is under-provisioned would cause slow queries, but the error is a timeout after exactly 3 seconds, indicating the function is waiting on something else (SQS polling).

Answer

The Lambda function does not have the required VPC permissions to access the RDS instance.

Answer

The Lambda function timeout should be increased to accommodate database query time.

Answer

The RDS instance is under-provisioned and causing slow queries.

Question 14

A company is running a stateless web application on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. The application stores session data in an Amazon ElastiCache Redis cluster. After a recent deployment, users are being logged out frequently. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The application is not using the ElastiCache cluster for session storage.. The most likely cause is that the application is not using the ElastiCache cluster for session storage. If the application fails to properly store session data in Redis, sessions will not persist across instances. This becomes evident after a deployment if the configuration or code change inadvertently disables Redis session handling. Option A is incorrect because a small Auto Scaling group min size does not cause logouts; it affects capacity. Option B is incorrect because an aggressive health check might cause instance replacement, but if sessions are stored in Redis, users should not be logged out. Option D is incorrect because the ALB does not directly interact with ElastiCache; security group issues would cause connection failures, not intermittent logouts.

Answer

The Auto Scaling group's min size is too small.

Answer

The Elastic Load Balancer's health check is too aggressive.

Answer

The ElastiCache cluster's security group is blocking traffic from the ALB.

Question 15

A company's AWS CloudTrail logs are stored in an S3 bucket. A Solutions Architect needs to analyze the logs to identify API calls that created or modified IAM roles in the last 30 days. What is the MOST efficient way to perform this analysis?

Accepted Answer

Use Amazon Athena to run SQL queries on the logs.. Amazon Athena enables running SQL queries directly on CloudTrail logs stored in S3 without the need to move or transform data. This is the most efficient method for analyzing historical CloudTrail data. Option A is incorrect because CloudWatch Logs Insights is designed for logs stored in CloudWatch Logs, not for S3-stored CloudTrail logs. Option C is incorrect because using Lambda to export to Redshift adds unnecessary complexity and cost compared to querying in place with Athena. Option D is incorrect because S3 Select is limited to filtering data within a single object and does not support complex SQL queries across multiple log files.

Answer

Use Amazon CloudWatch Logs Insights to query the logs.

Answer

Use an AWS Lambda function to process the logs and export to Amazon Redshift.

Answer

Use S3 Select to filter the records.