SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Question
A company runs a batch processing application on a scheduled EC2 instance that starts every night. The instance processes a large number of files from an S3 bucket and writes results to another S3 bucket. The job takes approximately 6 hours to complete. Recently, the job has been failing after 4 hours with an error indicating that the instance's EBS root volume is full. The instance type is t3.medium with a 20 GB gp2 root volume. The application writes temporary files to the root volume. The company wants to fix this with minimal changes to the application and infrastructure. What should a solutions architect recommend?
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
✓
Increase the size of the EBS root volume to 100 GB.
Increasing the root volume size provides more space for temporary files without requiring application changes. Option A is wrong because creating an additional EBS volume and mounting it would require application changes to write to a different path. Option B is wrong because instance store volumes are ephemeral and may not be available on t3 instances, and would also require application changes. Option D is wrong because compressing temporary files may not be sufficient and requires code changes.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create an additional EBS volume and mount it to the instance.
Why it's wrong here
This requires application changes to use the new mount point.
- ✗
Change the instance type to one with instance store volumes.
Why it's wrong here
t3 instances do not support instance store; also ephemeral storage is not persistent.
- ✓
Increase the size of the EBS root volume to 100 GB.
Why this is correct
More space on root volume resolves the issue without code changes.
- ✗
Modify the application to compress temporary files.
Why it's wrong here
Compression reduces size but may not be sufficient; also requires code changes.
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 |
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