SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is migrating a legacy monolithic application to AWS. The application currently uses a shared file system for storing user uploads. The solution architect needs to design a highly available and scalable storage solution that supports concurrent read/write operations from multiple EC2 instances. Which AWS service should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse Amazon EBS Multi-Attach with a true shared file system, overlooking its single-AZ limitation and the need for a cluster-aware file system, or they mistakenly choose S3 File Gateway thinking it provides native file system semantics, when in fact it adds latency and complexity for concurrent write workloads.
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
✓
Amazon EFS
Amazon EFS provides a fully managed, elastic NFS file system that supports concurrent read/write access from thousands of EC2 instances across multiple Availability Zones. It is designed for high availability and scalability, automatically growing and shrinking as files are added or removed, making it ideal for a shared file system for user uploads in a migrated monolithic application.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon FSx for Windows File Server
Why it's wrong here
FSx for Windows File Server provides SMB shares with Active Directory integration, which suits Windows workloads needing NTFS permissions and DFS. This Linux-style upload workload needs a POSIX shared file system mountable concurrently across Availability Zones, which FSx for Windows does not deliver.
- ✗
Amazon S3 with S3 File Gateway
Why it's wrong here
S3 File Gateway presents a cached NFS or SMB interface backed by S3 objects, designed for on-premises file-to-object tiering rather than EC2-native concurrent POSIX access. The workload needs a shared file system directly mountable by many EC2 instances across Availability Zones.
- ✓
Amazon EFS
Why this is correct
Amazon EFS provides a shared, elastic NFS file system that many EC2 instances across Availability Zones can mount concurrently with read/write access. This satisfies the concurrent access and high availability constraints that a single-instance or block-based store cannot.
- ✗
Amazon EBS with Multi-Attach enabled
Why it's wrong here
EBS Multi-Attach permits a single io1 or io2 volume to attach to instances in one Availability Zone only, using a cluster-aware file system, so it cannot span AZs or scale concurrently. It suits clustered databases needing shared block access, not general upload storage.
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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