SAA-C03 Design Resilient Architectures Practice Question
A media company runs a video transcoding pipeline on Amazon EC2 instances in a single Availability Zone. The pipeline writes intermediate files to an Amazon EBS volume attached to each instance. The company needs the pipeline to survive the failure of any single Availability Zone and to recover automatically with minimal data loss. Which change should a solutions architect make?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that an Auto Scaling group spanning multiple Availability Zones alone provides resilience, when the storage layer must also be decoupled from a single zone.
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
✓
Create an Auto Scaling group that spans multiple Availability Zones and store intermediate files in an Amazon S3 bucket.
Storing intermediate files in Amazon S3 decouples the pipeline from any single Availability Zone because S3 is a regional, highly durable service. An Auto Scaling group spanning multiple Availability Zones automatically replaces instances when a zone fails, and replacement instances retrieve the intermediate files from S3, minimizing data loss and manual recovery effort.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create an Auto Scaling group that spans multiple Availability Zones and configure each instance to store intermediate files on an instance store volume.
Why it's wrong here
Instance store volumes are ephemeral and physically attached to the host. If an instance is terminated or its host fails, all data on the instance store is lost, and an Auto Scaling group replacement instance starts with empty storage. This design tolerates an AZ failure but does not meet the minimal data loss requirement for intermediate files.
- ✗
Create an Auto Scaling group that spans multiple Availability Zones and use Amazon EBS Multi-Attach volumes shared across all instances.
Why it's wrong here
Amazon EBS Multi-Attach allows a single io1 or io2 volume to be attached to multiple instances in the same Availability Zone only. It cannot span Availability Zones, so an AZ failure still makes the volume unavailable. It also requires a cluster-aware file system, adding complexity without solving the cross-AZ requirement.
- ✗
Create an Auto Scaling group in one Availability Zone and take scheduled EBS snapshots every hour to another Availability Zone.
Why it's wrong here
Scheduled EBS snapshots provide a recovery point but not automatic failover, and up to an hour of intermediate data can be lost. The Auto Scaling group remains in a single Availability Zone, so it cannot replace instances when that zone fails. This does not satisfy the requirement to survive any single AZ failure.
- ✓
Create an Auto Scaling group that spans multiple Availability Zones and store intermediate files in an Amazon S3 bucket.
Why this is correct
Amazon S3 is a regional service with high durability, so intermediate files survive an Availability Zone failure. An Auto Scaling group spanning multiple Availability Zones replaces failed instances automatically, and new instances can read the intermediate files from the S3 bucket. This meets both the resilience and minimal data loss requirements.
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 |
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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 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.