SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A media company is designing a new video processing pipeline. The pipeline must ingest large video files uploaded to Amazon S3, process them using AWS Lambda, and store the output in another S3 bucket. The processing time can vary from a few seconds to over 15 minutes. The company wants a fully serverless, cost-effective solution that can handle sudden spikes in uploads. Which solution should a solutions architect recommend?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming Lambda can handle any processing duration; Lambda has a hard 15-minute timeout, so long-running video processing must be offloaded to a service like Step Functions or ECS.
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
✓
Use an S3 event notification to send a message to an Amazon SQS queue, then have a Lambda function poll the queue and start an AWS Step Functions state machine to process the video.
The pipeline requires handling variable processing times, including jobs exceeding 15 minutes, and sudden spikes. Using S3 event notifications to enqueue messages in SQS decouples ingestion from processing, and a Lambda function can poll the queue and start a Step Functions state machine. Step Functions can orchestrate long-running workflows and is fully serverless, scaling automatically with demand.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure S3 event notifications to invoke an AWS Lambda function that starts an Amazon ECS task on AWS Fargate to process the video.
Why it's wrong here
While ECS on Fargate is serverless, it is not fully serverless in the same sense as Lambda and Step Functions; it requires managing task definitions, clusters, and networking. It can handle long-running tasks but adds operational overhead. The scenario asks for a fully serverless, cost-effective solution, and Step Functions is more integrated and simpler.
- ✗
Configure an S3 event notification to trigger a Lambda function directly for each uploaded video file.
Why it's wrong here
Lambda functions have a maximum execution timeout of 15 minutes. Since processing can exceed 15 minutes, direct invocation will fail for long-running jobs. Additionally, Lambda has concurrency limits that may throttle sudden spikes. This solution is not suitable for variable processing times exceeding the Lambda timeout.
- ✓
Use an S3 event notification to send a message to an Amazon SQS queue, then have a Lambda function poll the queue and start an AWS Step Functions state machine to process the video.
Why this is correct
This decouples ingestion from processing, allowing the Lambda function to quickly enqueue jobs. Step Functions can orchestrate long-running tasks, including those exceeding 15 minutes, by using activities or Lambda functions with retries. It handles spikes via SQS buffering and is fully serverless, providing cost-effective scaling.
- ✗
Use an S3 event notification to trigger an AWS Glue job that processes the video and writes the output to S3.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Glue is designed for ETL workloads, not video processing. It is not optimized for media transcoding and may not support the required libraries or codecs. Glue jobs have a minimum billing duration and may not be cost-effective for sporadic video processing. This solution is not appropriate for the scenario.
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 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.