SAA-C03 Design Resilient Architectures Practice Question
This SAA-C03 practice question tests your understanding of design resilient architectures. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. A key principle to apply: amazon EFS is a fully managed, scalable, NFSv4 file system.. 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 patient portal must use shared file storage across Linux EC2 instances in multiple Availability Zones. The storage must remain available during an AZ failure. Which service should be used? The architecture review board prefers a managed AWS-native control.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Amazon EFS with mount targets in multiple Availability Zones
Amazon EFS provides a fully managed, shared POSIX-compliant file system that can be mounted concurrently across multiple Linux EC2 instances. By creating mount targets in multiple Availability Zones, the file system remains accessible even if one AZ fails, meeting the high-availability requirement. This aligns with the architecture review board's preference for a managed AWS-native control.
Key principle: Amazon EFS is a fully managed, scalable, NFSv4 file system.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Instance store volumes
Why it's wrong here
Instance store is ephemeral and tied to a single instance.
✓
Amazon EFS with mount targets in multiple Availability Zones
Why this is correct
EFS is regional file storage and supports mount targets across AZs.
Related concept
Amazon EFS is a fully managed, scalable, NFSv4 file system.
✗
An EBS volume attached to all instances
Why it's wrong here
A standard EBS volume is zonal and cannot be attached broadly as shared file storage.
✗
S3 mounted as a POSIX file system without a file gateway
Why it's wrong here
S3 is object storage and does not provide native POSIX shared file semantics.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may confuse EBS multi-attach (which is limited to a single AZ and specific volume types) with the cross-AZ shared file system capability of EFS, or incorrectly assume that mounting S3 as a POSIX file system is a reliable, managed solution for shared storage.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
EFS uses the NFSv4.1 protocol and automatically replicates data across multiple AZs within a region for durability. Mount targets are Elastic Network Interfaces (ENIs) in each AZ that route NFS traffic to the EFS file system, enabling concurrent access from instances in different AZs. In a real-world scenario, if an AZ fails, the EFS mount target in that AZ becomes unreachable, but instances in other AZs continue to access the file system through their local mount targets without interruption.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Amazon EFS is a fully managed, scalable, NFSv4 file system.
EFS supports mounting across multiple EC2 instances in different Availability Zones.
EFS automatically replicates data across multiple AZs for high availability and durability.
EFS provides POSIX file system semantics, ideal for Linux workloads.
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
Amazon EFS is a fully managed, scalable, NFSv4 file system.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Review amazon EFS is a fully managed, scalable, NFSv4 file system., then practise related SAA-C03 questions on the same topic to reinforce the concept.
Design Resilient Architectures — This question tests Design Resilient Architectures — Amazon EFS is a fully managed, scalable, NFSv4 file system..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Amazon EFS with mount targets in multiple Availability Zones — Amazon EFS provides a fully managed, shared POSIX-compliant file system that can be mounted concurrently across multiple Linux EC2 instances. By creating mount targets in multiple Availability Zones, the file system remains accessible even if one AZ fails, meeting the high-availability requirement. This aligns with the architecture review board's preference for a managed AWS-native control.
What should I do if I get this SAA-C03 question wrong?
Review amazon EFS is a fully managed, scalable, NFSv4 file system., then practise related SAA-C03 questions on the same topic to reinforce the concept.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Amazon EFS is a fully managed, scalable, NFSv4 file system.
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Question Discussion
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