Question 1easymultiple choice
Full question →easymultiple choiceObjective-mapped
Exhibit
Database storage review: - Current volume type: gp2 - Peak Read/Write IOPS observed: 9,700 - VolumeQueueLength increases during busy periods - ReadLatency reaches 8-12 ms - Requirement: provision about 10,000 IOPS without buying much extra capacity
Based on the exhibit, which EBS volume type should the team use to meet the performance need at lower cost than overprovisioning capacity?
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
Best answer
Use gp3 and provision the needed IOPS independently of volume size.
gp3 is the best fit because it lets you provision IOPS and throughput separately from volume size. The exhibit shows the workload needs around 10,000 IOPS and experiences queue buildup on gp2. With gp3, the team can raise performance without unnecessarily increasing storage capacity, which is usually more cost-effective for this kind of database workload.
B
Distractor review
Use sc1 because it is optimized for infrequent access and large objects.
sc1 is for cold, sequential workloads, not for low-latency databases that need thousands of random IOPS.
C
Distractor review
Use st1 because it provides high throughput for streaming data.
st1 is designed for throughput-heavy sequential access, not low-latency random I/O for transactional databases.
D
Distractor review
Use standard magnetic storage because it is compatible with all EC2 instances.
Magnetic storage is legacy and far below the performance needed for a database showing high IOPS and latency pressure.
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: Use gp3 and provision the needed IOPS independently of volume size. — gp3 is the right answer because it decouples storage performance from volume size. The exhibit shows the workload needs more IOPS than gp2 is comfortably providing, and the team wants to avoid buying unnecessary capacity just to get performance. With gp3, they can directly provision the IOPS required by the database while keeping cost and storage size under control. Why others are wrong: sc1 and st1 are both optimized for large, sequential data access patterns, so they are poor choices for transactional database I/O. Standard magnetic storage is outdated and cannot deliver the performance level indicated by the metrics in the exhibit. None of these options solve the queueing and latency problem as effectively as gp3.
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.