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Exam Question Walkthrough: AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate (SAA-C03)
Explore a key AWS exam question on redundancy and compliance. We break down the best service combination for healthcare applications.
When it comes to AWS Certified Solutions Architect exams, candidates often stumble over questions related to compliance and redundancy. This is critical for healthcare applications where both availability and quick recovery from failures are essential.
The question
A healthcare application needs to be designed to fulfill strict compliance and availability requirements. The solution must provide redundancy and be able to recover quickly from failures. Which AWS service combination would best address these needs?
- A. Amazon S3 with versioning and lifecycle policies.
- B. AWS Elastic Beanstalk and Amazon RDS.
- C. AWS Backup and AWS CloudFormation.
- D. Amazon RDS with Multi-AZ and Amazon CloudFront.
Think before you scroll
Before selecting an answer, weigh the options against the requirements of high availability, redundancy, and compliance. This question focuses on database solutions and their ability to recover from failures quickly.
The answer
The correct option is D. Amazon RDS with Multi-AZ and Amazon CloudFront. This combination ensures high availability through Multi-AZ deployments and enhances performance and redundancy for content delivery with CloudFront.
Why the other options lose
- A. Amazon S3 with versioning and lifecycle policies. While S3 offers durability and versioning, it is not a database solution. It does not meet the compliance and availability requirements for a healthcare application.
- B. AWS Elastic Beanstalk and Amazon RDS. Although Elastic Beanstalk simplifies deployment, it lacks the specific redundancy and failover capabilities that Multi-AZ RDS provides. This combination does not fully address the strict compliance needs.
- C. AWS Backup and AWS CloudFormation. AWS Backup offers backup solutions, but it does not ensure high availability or quick recovery in the same way that Multi-AZ RDS does. CloudFormation is for infrastructure as code, not for high availability solutions directly.
The concept behind it
The key principle here is understanding the difference between availability, redundancy, and compliance. Multi-AZ deployments in RDS offer failover capabilities, ensuring that your database remains available even in the event of a failure. CloudFront serves to optimize content delivery and redundancy, making it a logical choice for any solution that demands quick recovery and high performance.
Exam trap to remember
Remember: High availability solutions often involve Multi-AZ configurations for databases. Always look for options that explicitly address redundancy and recovery capabilities.