SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is migrating a legacy on-premises application to AWS. The application requires a shared file system that can be mounted on multiple Amazon EC2 instances across multiple Availability Zones. The file system must be highly available, durable, and support POSIX permissions. The company wants a fully managed solution. Which AWS service should a solutions architect recommend?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse Amazon EBS Multi-Attach with a shared file system; Multi-Attach is limited to a single Availability Zone and does not support POSIX-compliant shared access.
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 Elastic File System (Amazon EFS).
Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) is a fully managed, scalable, and elastic NFS file system for Linux-based workloads. It can be mounted on multiple EC2 instances across multiple Availability Zones simultaneously, providing high availability and durability. It supports POSIX permissions and is designed for shared access, making it the correct choice for a legacy application requiring a shared file system.
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 S3 with a file gateway deployed on each EC2 instance.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Storage Gateway File Gateway provides an SMB or NFS interface to Amazon S3, but it requires deploying and managing a gateway appliance, which adds operational overhead. It also does not provide a native POSIX file system with full locking semantics. While it can be shared, it is not a fully managed file system service like Amazon EFS.
- ✗
Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) with Multi-Attach enabled.
Why it's wrong here
Amazon EBS Multi-Attach allows a single Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1/io2) volume to be attached to multiple EC2 instances in the same Availability Zone, but it does not support cross-Availability Zone attachment and is not a shared file system. It also does not provide POSIX-compliant file locking. This does not meet the requirement for a highly available, durable, multi-AZ shared file system.
- ✓
Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS).
Why this is correct
Amazon EFS is a fully managed, elastic NFS file system that can be mounted on multiple EC2 instances across multiple Availability Zones. It provides high availability and durability by storing data redundantly across Availability Zones. It supports POSIX permissions and is designed for shared access, making it the ideal solution for this legacy application requiring a shared file system.
- ✗
Amazon FSx for Windows File Server.
Why it's wrong here
Amazon FSx for Windows File Server is a fully managed Windows file server that supports SMB protocol and Windows ACLs. While it can be multi-AZ, it is designed for Windows workloads and may not support POSIX permissions required by a legacy Linux application. It is not the best fit unless the application specifically requires SMB or Windows features.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
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.