SAA-C03 Design High-Performing Architectures Practice Question
A document portal requires consistent high IOPS for a transactional database on EC2. Which EBS volume type is most suitable?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse 'high IOPS' with 'high throughput' and select st1 or sc1, not realizing that transactional databases require low-latency random I/O, which only SSD-based volumes like io2 can consistently deliver.
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
✓
Provisioned IOPS SSD such as io2
Provisioned IOPS SSD (io2) is the correct choice because it delivers consistent, high IOPS performance required for transactional databases running on EC2. io2 volumes offer a 99.999% durability and can sustain up to 256,000 IOPS per volume, making them ideal for latency-sensitive workloads like OLTP databases.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
sc1 Cold HDD
Why it's wrong here
sc1 is a cold HDD tier designed for infrequently accessed sequential data, so its low baseline IOPS and mechanical latency fail the transactional database's consistent high-IOPS requirement; gp3 or io2 are needed. It is tempting because sc1 is the cheapest EBS option for archival or cold storage with minimal access.
- ✗
Instance store only
Why it's wrong here
Instance store is ephemeral, so data is lost on stop or host failure, and it cannot deliver the durable consistent IOPS a transactional database needs. It suits temporary buffers, caches or replicated scratch data where persistence is not required.
- ✓
Provisioned IOPS SSD such as io2
Why this is correct
Provisioned IOPS SSD volumes such as io2 deliver consistently high, configurable IOPS independent of volume size, meeting the transactional database's steady performance demand. gp3 and gp2 burst and scale IOPS with capacity, so they cannot guarantee the sustained throughput required.
- ✗
st1 Throughput Optimized HDD
Why it's wrong here
st1 is a magnetic HDD volume tuned for sequential throughput, so its mechanical latency cannot deliver the consistent high IOPS a transactional database demands; gp3 or io2 are required. It is tempting because st1 suits large, sequential workloads such as log processing or big-data ingestion, where throughput matters more than random IOPS.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.