SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A media company is migrating its on-premises rendering farm to AWS. The rendering application uses a shared file system that must be accessible by hundreds of EC2 instances simultaneously. The file system must provide high throughput and low latency, and support POSIX permissions. The company wants to minimize changes to the application. Which AWS storage service should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that Amazon EFS, being a shared file system, can handle the performance requirements of a rendering farm, but it is not optimized for such high-throughput, low-latency 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 FSx for Lustre
Amazon FSx for Lustre is purpose-built for high-performance computing workloads such as rendering, providing the low latency, high throughput, and POSIX compliance needed. It can be accessed by many EC2 instances simultaneously and integrates with S3. Other file systems either lack the performance or are not POSIX-compliant for Linux workloads.
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
Amazon FSx for Windows File Server is designed for Windows-based applications and supports SMB protocol. While it can be mounted on many EC2 instances, it is not optimized for high-performance Linux rendering workloads. It supports POSIX permissions only through Windows ACLs, which may not be compatible. It is not the best fit for a Linux-based rendering farm requiring Lustre-like performance.
- ✗
Amazon S3 with AWS Transfer Family
Why it's wrong here
Amazon S3 is an object storage service, not a file system. AWS Transfer Family provides SFTP, FTPS, and FTP access to S3, but it does not provide a POSIX-compliant file system that can be mounted on EC2 instances. The rendering application likely expects a mounted file system with POSIX semantics. Using S3 would require application changes and would not provide the required low latency.
- ✗
Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) Standard
Why it's wrong here
Amazon EFS Standard is a scalable file system for general-purpose workloads. It supports POSIX permissions and can be mounted on multiple EC2 instances. However, its performance is lower than FSx for Lustre, with latency in the low milliseconds and throughput scaling with size. For a high-performance rendering farm requiring low latency and high throughput, EFS may not provide sufficient performance.
- ✓
Amazon FSx for Lustre
Why this is correct
Amazon FSx for Lustre is a high-performance file system optimized for compute-intensive workloads like rendering. It provides sub-millisecond latencies, millions of IOPS, and hundreds of GB/s throughput. It supports POSIX permissions and can be accessed by many EC2 instances concurrently. It integrates with S3, allowing data to be processed and stored. This meets the requirements for a rendering farm.
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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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.