Question 1easymultiple choice
Full question →easymultiple choiceObjective-mapped
You need to run batch jobs on EC2. The jobs can tolerate interruptions: if an instance is terminated, the job can restart from checkpoints. To reduce compute cost as much as possible, what is the best choice?
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
EC2 On-Demand Instances to avoid interruptions
On-Demand avoids interruption risk, but the cost is typically higher than Spot. Because your design explicitly supports restart from checkpoints, you can accept interruptions to gain Spot’s pricing advantage.
B
Best answer
EC2 Spot Instances with checkpoint-based interruption handling
Spot Instances are priced lower because AWS can reclaim capacity. When your workload can be interrupted and later restarted from checkpoints, the interruption model is compatible with Spot, making it the most cost-optimized option among the choices.
C
Distractor review
Savings Plans to guarantee capacity for the entire year
Savings Plans provide discounted pricing based on usage commitment, but they do not guarantee Spot-like interruption behavior and they do not specifically address the interruption-tolerant execution model. Since your main lever for maximum savings here is accepting interruption for lower Spot pricing, Savings Plans are not the best fit.
D
Distractor review
Reserved Instances with no interruption handling
Reserved Instances reduce cost compared to On-Demand, but they still assume more stable capacity usage. They are not the best choice when interruptions are acceptable and you can directly use Spot’s lower interrupted pricing with checkpoint recovery.
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: EC2 Spot Instances with checkpoint-based interruption handling — EC2 Spot Instances are the most cost-optimized choice when workloads can tolerate interruptions. Spot can be reclaimed, but if your application supports graceful termination and restart from checkpoints, the jobs can continue even when instances are interrupted. This design directly matches Spot’s interruption model, enabling substantially lower compute cost than On-Demand or commitment-only pricing options. Why others are wrong: On-Demand is interruption-resistant, but it sacrifices the opportunity for Spot’s lower pricing. Savings Plans focus on discounted pricing for committed usage, not on taking advantage of the interruption-tolerant compute model that unlocks Spot’s lowest rates. Reserved Instances provide discounting but don’t align as directly as Spot with intentionally accepting interruptions for maximum savings.
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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