DOP-C02 Resilient Cloud Solutions Practice Question
A company runs a critical batch processing workload on a fleet of EC2 instances in a single AWS Region. The workload can tolerate interruptions but must complete within 4 hours and must not lose progress if an instance is terminated. The company wants to minimize cost and operational overhead while ensuring resilience against a single Availability Zone failure. Which solution meets these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that Spot Instances alone provide resilience, when actually the allocation strategy and checkpoint storage are what ensure the workload survives interruptions and AZ failures.
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
✓
Use Spot Instances with a diversified allocation strategy across multiple Availability Zones, and store intermediate results in Amazon S3.
The workload is interruptible, so Spot Instances are the most cost-effective choice. A diversified allocation strategy across multiple Availability Zones reduces correlated interruptions and provides AZ resilience. Storing intermediate results in Amazon S3 ensures progress is preserved because any instance can retrieve the latest checkpoint. This solution satisfies cost, availability, and durability requirements with minimal operational overhead.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use Reserved Instances in a single Availability Zone, and store intermediate results on instance store volumes.
Why it's wrong here
Reserved Instances provide a discount but require a commitment and do not provide resilience against an Availability Zone failure. Instance store volumes are ephemeral and data is lost if the instance stops or terminates. This option fails both the multi-AZ resilience requirement and the progress-preservation requirement, making it unsuitable for this workload.
- ✓
Use Spot Instances with a diversified allocation strategy across multiple Availability Zones, and store intermediate results in Amazon S3.
Why this is correct
Spot Instances reduce cost by up to 90% and are ideal for interruptible workloads. A diversified allocation strategy across multiple Availability Zones reduces the chance of simultaneous interruptions. Storing progress in S3 ensures that if an instance is reclaimed, another instance can resume from the last checkpoint. This combination meets cost, resilience, and progress-preservation requirements.
- ✗
Use On-Demand instances spread across multiple Availability Zones, and store intermediate results in an Amazon S3 bucket.
Why it's wrong here
On-Demand instances across multiple Availability Zones provide resilience, and S3 stores progress, but On-Demand pricing is significantly more expensive than Spot for interruptible workloads. The scenario states the workload can tolerate interruptions, so paying On-Demand rates unnecessarily increases cost. This option meets availability and durability but fails the cost-minimization requirement, making it suboptimal.
- ✗
Use Spot Instances in a single Availability Zone, and store intermediate results on Amazon EBS volumes attached to each instance.
Why it's wrong here
Spot Instances are cost-effective, but a single Availability Zone does not provide resilience against an AZ failure. EBS volumes are tied to a single AZ and cannot be attached to instances in another AZ without snapshot and restore, which adds delay and complexity. This option does not meet the requirement to survive an AZ failure without losing progress.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
This DOP-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 DOP-C02 exam.