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Quick Answer
The answer is to use EC2 Auto Scaling with a mixed instances policy that includes Spot Instances for the stateless web tier, while reserving On-Demand for the stateful tier, and to offload uploaded files to Amazon S3 with Transfer Acceleration. This combination works because Spot Instances drastically reduce compute costs for fault-tolerant, stateless workloads, while S3’s inherent multi-AZ durability eliminates the need for expensive EBS volumes on each instance, preserving high availability without local storage overhead. On the SAA-C03 exam, this scenario tests your ability to separate stateful and stateless components—a classic trap is assuming all tiers must use On-Demand or that removing local storage harms availability. The key insight is that cost optimization for high availability EC2 often involves shifting state to managed services like S3, which are already resilient across zones. Remember the mnemonic: “Spot the stateless, S3 the state” to instantly recall that Spot Instances handle the web tier and S3 handles the uploads.
SAA-C03 Design Cost-Optimized Architectures Practice Question
This SAA-C03 practice question tests your understanding of design cost-optimized architectures. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company is running a stateful web application on EC2 instances that processes user uploads. The architecture currently uses a Multi-AZ deployment for high availability. Which three cost-optimization strategies can be applied without sacrificing high availability? (Choose three.)
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
✓
Store uploaded files in Amazon S3 and use S3 Transfer Acceleration for uploads, then remove the local storage from EC2 instances.
Storing uploaded files in Amazon S3 and using S3 Transfer Acceleration for uploads removes the need for local storage on EC2 instances, reducing storage costs and eliminating the cost of managing EBS volumes. This strategy does not affect high availability because S3 is inherently highly available and durable across multiple Availability Zones. Transfer Acceleration optimizes upload speed over the public internet without impacting the availability of the application.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may think disabling cross-zone load balancing reduces availability, but it actually preserves high availability as long as each AZ has enough instances to handle failover, while reducing inter-AZ data transfer costs.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
S3 Transfer Acceleration uses AWS edge locations to accelerate uploads over the public internet via optimized network paths and TCP optimizations, reducing latency for distant clients. Disabling cross-zone load balancing on an Application Load Balancer prevents traffic from being routed to instances in other AZs, eliminating inter-AZ data transfer charges (which are typically $0.01/GB each way) while still maintaining high availability if each AZ has sufficient capacity. Spot Instances can be up to 90% cheaper than On-Demand and are suitable for stateless workloads; the stateful tier (e.g., user uploads) remains on On-Demand to ensure data persistence.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAA-C03 question test?
Design Cost-Optimized Architectures — This question tests Design Cost-Optimized Architectures — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Store uploaded files in Amazon S3 and use S3 Transfer Acceleration for uploads, then remove the local storage from EC2 instances. — Storing uploaded files in Amazon S3 and using S3 Transfer Acceleration for uploads removes the need for local storage on EC2 instances, reducing storage costs and eliminating the cost of managing EBS volumes. This strategy does not affect high availability because S3 is inherently highly available and durable across multiple Availability Zones. Transfer Acceleration optimizes upload speed over the public internet without impacting the availability of the application.
What should I do if I get this SAA-C03 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This SAA-C03 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 SAA-C03 exam.
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