Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A SaaS company runs a production API on an EC2 Auto Scaling group with steady demand 24/7. The team uses multiple instance types over time (they switch types during tuning) but the overall compute hours are stable. They want a cost reduction without committing to a specific instance type or size. Which AWS pricing option best meets the requirement?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Distractor review
Buy EC2 Spot Instances for the Auto Scaling group to maximize savings
Spot can be interrupted and is a poor fit for 24/7 steady demand when interruption tolerance is not stated.
B
Best answer
Purchase a Compute Savings Plan for the region and commit to a dollar-per-hour amount
A Compute Savings Plan reduces cost for steady compute usage and supports flexibility across instance families and sizes.
C
Distractor review
Purchase Reserved Instances that are limited to a single specific instance type in the Auto Scaling group
Reserved Instances are most beneficial when you commit to a specific instance type and matching scope, which conflicts with changing types.
D
Distractor review
Use on-demand only, and rely on Auto Scaling to reduce cost during low utilization
With steady 24/7 demand, on-demand pricing does not target the largest savings opportunities from commitments.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
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More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A team needs to distribute TCP traffic (not HTTP) across multiple services. The services must see the original client source IP for auditing. Which AWS load balancer is the best fit?
Question 2
A team wants to run containerized services with AWS-managed orchestration and autoscaling. They do NOT require Kubernetes compatibility. Which AWS service choice is most appropriate to meet these goals?
Question 3
A solutions architect is designing an S3 bucket for a IoT ingestion API. The objects must never be publicly accessible, even if a developer later adds an overly broad bucket policy. What should the architect configure? The design must avoid adding custom operational scripts.
Question 4
A solutions architect is designing an S3 bucket for a claims portal. The objects must never be publicly accessible, even if a developer later adds an overly broad bucket policy. What should the architect configure?
Question 5
A team wants to delegate IAM management to developers, but must ensure developers can never grant themselves permissions beyond a specific limit. Which AWS mechanism best matches this requirement?
Question 6
A solutions architect is designing an S3 bucket for a healthcare document service. The objects must never be publicly accessible, even if a developer later adds an overly broad bucket policy. What should the architect configure?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAA-C03 question test?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Purchase a Compute Savings Plan for the region and commit to a dollar-per-hour amount — Compute Savings Plans are designed for stable compute usage and reduce costs without forcing you to commit to a particular instance type. In this scenario, the Auto Scaling group’s demand is steady, but the team may change instance families or sizes as performance tuning evolves. Savings Plans apply broadly to eligible EC2 usage in the selected scope (such as region), providing predictable savings while avoiding the rigidity of instance-specific commitments. Spot Instances can be terminated with short notice, which is typically unacceptable for a 24/7 production API unless the application is explicitly interruption-tolerant. Reserved Instances can reduce cost, but the best discounts require matching instance families/types or a narrower scope, which conflicts with planned instance type changes. On-demand pricing may work operationally, but it does not exploit commitment-driven savings when usage is steady.
What should I do if I get this SAA-C03 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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