SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is designing a new batch processing system that processes large files from Amazon S3. The processing is CPU-intensive and can take up to 2 hours per file. The company wants to minimize cost and avoid idle compute capacity. Which THREE components should the architect include? (Choose THREE.)
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates choose AWS Lambda for any event-driven processing without considering its 15-minute timeout limit, overlooking that long-running CPU-intensive tasks require a different compute service like AWS Batch.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
EC2 Spot Instances to reduce compute costs.
A is correct because EC2 Spot Instances can reduce compute costs by up to 90% compared to On-Demand instances, making them ideal for fault-tolerant, stateless batch workloads that can handle interruptions. The batch processing system described is CPU-intensive and runs for up to 2 hours per file, which fits well within the typical Spot interruption notice (2 minutes) and can be retried using AWS Batch’s built-in retry logic.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
EC2 Spot Instances to reduce compute costs.
Why this is correct
Spot Instances are cost-effective for fault-tolerant batch jobs.
- ✗
AWS Lambda functions to process each file.
Why it's wrong here
Lambda has a maximum execution time of 15 minutes.
- ✓
AWS Batch with a job queue and compute environment.
Why this is correct
AWS Batch is designed for batch processing and manages resources.
- ✓
Amazon S3 Event Notifications to trigger the batch job when a new file is uploaded.
Why this is correct
Event-driven triggering automates the pipeline.
- ✗
Auto Scaling group with scheduled scaling policies.
Why it's wrong here
Not as efficient as AWS Batch for job-driven scaling.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SAP-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SAP-C02 exam.