SAA-C03 io2 is a Provisioned IOPS SSD volume type. Practice Question
A media archive requires consistent high IOPS for a transactional database on EC2. Which EBS volume type is most suitable? The team wants the control to be enforceable during normal operations.
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse throughput-optimized HDD (st1) with IOPS-focused SSD, assuming 'high throughput' implies high IOPS, but st1 is designed for sequential access and cannot provide the low-latency random I/O that transactional databases require.
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
The io2 Provisioned IOPS SSD volume type is designed for latency-sensitive transactional database workloads that require consistent high IOPS. It allows you to specify a guaranteed IOPS rate (up to 256,000 IOPS for io2 Block Express) and provides 99.999% durability, making it ideal for enforcing performance control during normal operations.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Provisioned IOPS SSD such as io2
Why this is correct
io2 is a Provisioned IOPS SSD EBS volume engineered for business-critical workloads that demand consistent, single-digit-millisecond latency and sustained IOPS. For a 4 TB media archive requiring durable, high-performance storage, io2 delivers 99.999% durability and allows you to provision up to 256,000 IOPS (with Block Express), ensuring predictable performance for transactional or indexing workloads rather than relying on burst credits.
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st1 Throughput Optimized HDD
Why it's wrong here
st1 is a Throughput Optimized HDD volume designed for large, sequential operations such as log processing or MapReduce, not for high-IOPS transactional database access. Its magnetic disk architecture caps maximum IOPS at 500 per volume and measures performance primarily by throughput, so it cannot sustain the consistent random I/O pattern a media archive database requires. Additionally, st1's baseline performance depends on volume size and burst behavior, making it inappropriate for predictable latency.
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Instance store only
Why it's wrong here
Instance store volumes are physically attached to the EC2 host and can deliver extremely high random IOPS due to direct NVMe attachment, but they are ephemeral — any data is lost if the instance stops, terminates, or suffers hardware failure. A media archive needs durable, persistent storage that survives instance lifecycle events, so relying solely on instance store would risk catastrophic data loss unless it is replicated elsewhere, which is not a self-contained storage solution.
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sc1 Cold HDD
Why it's wrong here
sc1 is a Cold HDD EBS volume optimized for the lowest cost per gigabyte for infrequently accessed data, with maximum IOPS of just 250 per volume. Its performance is severely limited for random I/O and even throughput is lower than st1, making it wholly unsuitable for a media archive that requires consistent high IOPS. sc1 is intended for archival data that is rarely read, not for serving transactional requests.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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