CLF-C02 Cloud Technology and Services Practice Question
Which Amazon EC2 instance type provides the best performance for a relational database that requires very high IOPS with consistent sub-millisecond storage latency?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse 'high IOPS' with compute or memory optimization, overlooking that storage-optimized instances are the only family specifically engineered for ultra-low latency and high-throughput storage operations.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Storage-optimized instances (I family)
The I family (Storage-optimized instances) is designed for high-frequency, low-latency I/O operations, leveraging NVMe SSD-backed instance storage to deliver very high IOPS and consistent sub-millisecond latency, making it ideal for relational databases with demanding storage performance requirements.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
General purpose instances (M family)
Why it's wrong here
General purpose instances (M family) provide a balance of compute, memory, and networking resources, making them suitable for diverse workloads such as web servers and small databases. However, they are not optimized for extreme I/O throughput; their storage is typically backed by EBS with lower IOPS and higher latency compared to NVMe-based storage-optimized instances. Therefore, for high-frequency, low-latency database operations, they are a poor fit.
- ✓
Storage-optimized instances (I family)
Why this is correct
Storage-optimized instances (I family) are specifically engineered for high-frequency, low-latency I/O operations. They feature non-volatile memory express (NVMe) SSD-backed instance storage that delivers hundreds of thousands of random IOPS and sub-millisecond latencies. This makes them ideal for transactional databases, NoSQL databases, and other I/O-intensive workloads requiring sustained high throughput. Consequently, they are the correct choice when extreme storage performance is the primary requirement.
- ✗
Compute-optimized instances (C family)
Why it's wrong here
Compute-optimized instances (C family) offer a high CPU-to-memory ratio, optimized for compute-bound workloads like batch processing, scientific modeling, and machine learning inference. Their performance derives from powerful processors rather than specialized storage hardware, and they lack the dedicated NVMe SSDs found in storage-optimized instances. As a result, they do not provide the high-IOPS, low-latency storage needed for I/O-bound database workloads.
- ✗
Memory-optimized instances (R family)
Why it's wrong here
Memory-optimized instances (R family) are designed to deliver large amounts of RAM for workloads that require massive in-memory data storage, such as in-memory databases and real-time analytics. Their core strength is memory capacity and bandwidth, not storage I/O performance. They do not incorporate the high-throughput NVMe SSD instance storage characteristic of the I family, so they are not optimized for disk-intensive operations and would not meet high-IOPS requirements.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every CLF-C02 question from scratch — 988 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CLF-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CLF-C02 exam.