Question 1hardmultiple choice
Full question →hardmultiple choiceObjective-mapped
Exhibit
Topology notes: - 12 x Amazon EC2 c6i.large instances - All instances run in us-east-1a - Current network path between nodes averages 0.9 ms and occasionally spikes above 2 ms - Workload logs: "gossip sync lag detected" and "broadcast step exceeded SLA" - Requirement: minimize latency and jitter between nodes, not maximize fault isolation
Based on the exhibit, a distributed analytics workload runs on 12 EC2 instances in one Availability Zone. The nodes exchange thousands of small messages per second and require the lowest possible intra-cluster latency and jitter. Which EC2 placement strategy is the best fit?
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
Spread placement group, because it places each instance on distinct underlying hardware.
A spread placement group is optimized for availability by reducing correlated failure risk across individual instances. It intentionally separates instances across distinct hardware, which is useful for fault tolerance but not for minimizing east-west latency or jitter for a tightly coupled cluster.
B
Distractor review
Partition placement group, because it isolates nodes across rack partitions.
Partition placement groups help large distributed systems reduce the impact of correlated infrastructure failures by separating instances into logical partitions. They are a resilience feature, not a performance feature, and they do not provide the close network proximity needed for the lowest-latency message exchange.
C
Best answer
Cluster placement group, because it places instances physically close together in one Availability Zone.
Cluster placement groups are designed for workloads that need very low network latency, low jitter, and high packet-per-second performance. Placing the instances physically close together within the same Availability Zone reduces network hop distance and is the best match for a message-heavy distributed analytics cluster.
D
Distractor review
Move the workload behind an Application Load Balancer so node-to-node traffic is balanced more efficiently.
An Application Load Balancer is for distributing client-to-service traffic at the application layer. It does not improve the network path between cluster nodes or reduce internal latency/jitter for east-west communication.
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.
Related practice questions
Related SAA-C03 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
SAA-C03 VPC practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC.
SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions.
SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions.
SAA-C03 IAM policy practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 IAM policy.
SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions.
SAA-C03 CloudFront practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 CloudFront.
SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions.
SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions.
SAA-C03 Auto Scaling practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 Auto Scaling.
SAA-C03 disaster recovery questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 disaster recovery questions.
SAA-C03 high availability questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 high availability questions.
SAA-C03 cost optimization questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 cost optimization questions.
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: Cluster placement group, because it places instances physically close together in one Availability Zone. — The workload is a tightly coupled cluster with heavy east-west traffic, frequent small messages, and explicit sensitivity to latency and jitter. A cluster placement group is purpose-built for this pattern because it places instances physically close together within one Availability Zone, which improves network performance between the nodes. Since the goal is performance rather than fault-domain separation, cluster placement is the correct choice. Spread placement groups prioritize instance separation for availability, not low latency. Partition placement groups reduce correlated failure risk but do not provide the same physical proximity as a cluster placement group. An ALB only manages ingress traffic and does nothing to optimize node-to-node communication inside the cluster.
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.
Discussion
Loading comments…
Sign in to join the discussion.