Udemy Exam 4 Flashcards
Which AWS service enables hybrid cloud storage between on-premises and the AWS Cloud? a) Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) b) AWS Storage Gateway c) Amazon S3 Cross Region Replication (CRR) d) Amazon CloudFront
Explanation
The AWS Storage Gateway service enables hybrid cloud storage between on-premises environments and the AWS Cloud. It seamlessly integrates on-premises enterprise applications and workflows with Amazon’s block and object cloud storage services through industry standard storage protocols.
CORRECT: “AWS Storage Gateway” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Amazon S3 Cross Region Replication (CRR)” is incorrect. Amazon S3 CRR is used for copying data from one S3 bucket to another S3 bucket in another region. That is not an examples of hybrid cloud.
INCORRECT: “Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)” is incorrect. Amazon EFS is not a hybrid cloud storage solution. With EFS you can mount file systems from on-premises servers, however it does not offer a local cache or method of moving data into the cloud.
INCORRECT: “Amazon CloudFront” is incorrect. Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network. It is used to get content closer to users, it is not a hybrid cloud storage solution.
Which AWS service provides a quick and automated way to create and manage AWS accounts? a) Amazon LightSail b) AWS QuickSight c) AWS Organizations d) Amazon Connect
Explanation
AWS Organizations is a web service that enables you to consolidate your multiple AWS accounts into an organization and centrally manage your accounts and their resources. The AWS Organizations API can be used to create AWS accounts and this can be automated through code.
CORRECT: “AWS Organizations” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “AWS QuickSight” is incorrect. Amazon QuickSight is a fast, cloud-powered business intelligence service that makes it easy to deliver insights to everyone in your organization.
INCORRECT: “Amazon LightSail” is incorrect. LightSail offers virtual servers (instances) that are easy to set up and backed by the power and reliability of AWS.
INCORRECT: “Amazon Connect” is incorrect. Amazon Connect is an easy to use omnichannel cloud contact center that helps companies provide superior customer service at a lower cost
Which of the below are good use cases for a specific Amazon EC2 pricing model? (Select TWO.)
a) Spot for consistent load over a long term
b) On-demand for regulatory requirements that do not allow multi-tenant virtualization
c) On-demand for ad-hoc requirements that cannot be interrupted
d) Reserved instances for applications with flexible start and end times
e) Reserved instances for steady state predictable usage
Explanation
Typical use cases for the pricing models listed are:
On-demand: Good for users that want the low cost and flexibility of EC2 without any up-front payment or long-term commitment. Applications with short term, spiky, or unpredictable workloads that cannot be interrupted
Reserved: Applications with steady state or predictable usage or that require reserved capacity
Spot: Applications that have flexible start and end times and that are only feasible at very low compute prices. May be terminated
Dedicated hosts: Useful for regulatory requirements that may not support multi-tenant virtualization. Great for licensing which does not support multi-tenancy or cloud deployments
CORRECT: “Reserved instances for steady state predictable usage” is a correct answer.
CORRECT: “On-demand for ad-hoc requirements that cannot be interrupted” is also a correct answer.
INCORRECT: “On-demand for regulatory requirements that do not allow multi-tenant virtualization” is incorrect. Please refer to the typical use cases above.
INCORRECT: “Spot for consistent load over a long term” is incorrect. Please refer to the typical use cases above.
INCORRECT: “Reserved instances for applications with flexible start and end times” is incorrect. Please refer to the typical use cases above.
Which Amazon EC2 pricing model should be used to comply with per-core software license requirements? a) Reserved Instances b) Dedicated Hosts c) Spot Instances d) On-Demand Instances
Explanation
Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts allow you to use your eligible software licenses from vendors such as Microsoft and Oracle on Amazon EC2, so that you get the flexibility and cost effectiveness of using your own licenses, but with the resiliency, simplicity and elasticity of AWS. An Amazon EC2 Dedicated Host is a physical server fully dedicated for your use, so you can help address corporate compliance requirements.
CORRECT: “Dedicated Hosts” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “On-Demand Instances” is incorrect. This is a standard pricing model and does not offer the advantages requested.
INCORRECT: “Spot Instances” is incorrect. This is used to obtain discounted pricing for short-term requirements that can be interrupted.
INCORRECT: “Reserved Instances” is incorrect. This is used to lower cost by reserving usage of an instance for a term of 1 or 3 years.
Which tool can be used to create alerts when the actual or forecasted cost of AWS services exceed a certain threshold? a) AWS Budgets b) AWS Cost and Usage report c) AWS Cost Explorer d) AWS CloudTrail
Explanation
AWS Budgets gives you the ability to set custom budgets that alert you when your costs or usage exceed (or are forecasted to exceed) your budgeted amount.
You can also use AWS Budgets to set reservation utilization or coverage targets and receive alerts when your utilization drops below the threshold you define. Reservation alerts are supported for Amazon EC2, Amazon RDS, Amazon Redshift, Amazon ElastiCache, and Amazon Elasticsearch reservations.
CORRECT: “AWS Budgets” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “AWS Cost Explorer” is incorrect. Cost Explorer lets you visualize and understand your costs but AWS Budgets should be used for alerting based on forecast or actual usage.
INCORRECT: “AWS Cost and Usage report” is incorrect. This is another tool that can be used to view usage for AWS services by category but AWS Budgets should be used for alerting based on forecast or actual usage.
INCORRECT: “AWS CloudTrail” is incorrect. CloudTrail is used for logging API activity, it will not alert you based on usage of AWS services.
When using Amazon RDS databases, which items are you charged for? (Select TWO.) a) Inbound data transfer b) Outbound data transfer c) Multi AZ
d) Single AZ
e) Backup up to the DB size
Explanation
With Amazon RDS you are charged for the type and size of database, the uptime, any additional storage of backup (above the DB size), requests, deployment type (e.g. you pay for multi AZ), and data transfer outbound.
CORRECT: “Multi AZ” is a correct answer.
CORRECT: “Outbound data transfer” is also a correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Inbound data transfer” is incorrect as you do not pay for inbound data.
INCORRECT: “Single AZ” is incorrect as this is not something you pay an additional charge for.
INCORRECT: “Backup up to the DB size” is incorrect as you do not pay for backup storage up to the size of the database. You only pay for backup storage in excess of the database size.
Which of the options below are recommendations in the reliability pillar of the well-architected framework? (Select TWO.) a) Scale vertically using big systems b) Manage change in manual processes c) Test recovery procedures d) Manually recover from failure e) Stop guessing about capacity
Explanation
The reliability pillar includes the ability of a system to recover from infrastructure or service disruptions, dynamically acquire computing resources to meet demand, and mitigate disruptions such as misconfigurations or transient network issues
There are five design principles for reliability in the cloud:
– Test recovery procedures.
– Automatically recover from failure.
– Scale horizontally to increase aggregate system availability.
– Stop guessing capacity.
– Manage change in automation.
CORRECT: “Test recovery procedures” is a correct answer.
CORRECT: “Stop guessing about capacity” is also a correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Manually recover from failure” is incorrect as applications should automatically recover from failure.
INCORRECT: “Manage change in manual processes” is incorrect as you should manage change in automation.
INCORRECT: “Scale vertically using big systems” is incorrect as you should scale applications horizontally.
Which type of AWS Storage Gateway can be used to backup data with popular backup software? a) Gateway Virtual Tape Library b) File Gateway c) Volume Gateway d) Backup Gateway
Explanation
The AWS Storage Gateway service enables hybrid storage between on-premises environments and the AWS Cloud.
The Gateway Virtual Tape Library can be used with popular backup software such as NetBackup, Backup Exec and Veeam. Uses a virtual media changer and tape drives.
CORRECT: “Gateway Virtual Tape Library” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “File Gateway” is incorrect. File gateway provides a virtual on-premises file server, which enables you to store and retrieve files as objects in Amazon S3.
INCORRECT: “Volume Gateway” is incorrect. The volume gateway represents the family of gateways that support block-based volumes, previously referred to as gateway-cached and gateway-stored modes.
INCORRECT: “Backup Gateway” is incorrect. There is no such thing as a Backup Gateway in the AWS products.
Which AWS service uses a highly secure hardware storage device to store encryption keys? a) AWS WAF b) Amazon Cloud Directory c) AWS IAM d) AWS CloudHSM
Explanation
AWS CloudHSM is a cloud-based hardware security module (HSM) that allows you to easily add secure key storage and high-performance crypto operations to your AWS applications
CORRECT: “AWS CloudHSM” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “AWS IAM” is incorrect. AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is used for managing users, groups, and roles in AWS.
INCORRECT: “Amazon Cloud Directory” is incorrect. Amazon Cloud Directory enables you to build flexible cloud-native directories for organizing hierarchies of data along multiple dimensions.
INCORRECT: “AWS WAF” is incorrect. AWS WAF is a web application firewall that helps protect your web applications from common web exploits.
Which of the following are advantages of the AWS Cloud? (Select TWO.)
a) AWS manages the development of applications on AWS
b) AWS manages the security of applications built on AWS
c) AWS manages capacity planning for physical servers
d) AWS manages cost planning for virtual servers
e) AWS manages the maintenance of the cloud infrastructure
Explanation
AWS is responsible for security of the AWS Cloud as well as capacity planning and maintenance of the AWS infrastructure. This includes physical infrastructure such as data centers, servers, storage systems, and networking equipment.
CORRECT: “AWS manages the maintenance of the cloud infrastructure” is a correct answer.
CORRECT: “AWS manages capacity planning for physical servers” is also a correct answer.
INCORRECT: “AWS manages the security of applications built on AWS” is incorrect. This is the responsibility of the customer.
INCORRECT: “AWS manages the development of applications on AWS” is incorrect. This is the responsibility of the customer.
INCORRECT: “AWS manages cost planning for virtual servers” is incorrect. This is the responsibility of the customer.
What are two examples of the advantages of cloud computing? (Select TWO.)
a) Benefit from massive economies of scale
b) Increase speed and agility
c) Trade operating costs for capital costs
d) Secure data centers
e) Trade variable expense for capital expense
Explanation
The 6 advantages of cloud computing are:
– Trade capital expense for variable expense.
– Benefit from massive economies of scale.
– Stop guessing about capacity.
– Increase speed and agility.
– Stop spending money running and maintaining data centers.
– Go global in minutes.
CORRECT: “Increase speed and agility” is a correct answer.
CORRECT: “Benefit from massive economies of scale” is also a correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Trade operating costs for capital costs” is incorrect as this is backwards.
INCORRECT: “Secure data centers” is incorrect. Secure data centers are not a reason to move to the cloud. Your on-premises data centers should also be secure.
INCORRECT: “Trade variable expense for capital expense” is incorrect as this is backwards.
An organization has multiple AWS accounts and uses a mixture of on-demand and reserved instances. One account has a considerable amount of unused reserved instances. How can the organization reduce their costs? (Select TWO.)
a) Create an AWS Organization configuration linking the accounts
b) Setup consolidated billing between the accounts
c) Use Spot instances instead
d) Switch to using placement groups
e) Redeem their reserved instances
Explanation
AWS organizations allow you to consolidate multiple AWS accounts into an organization that you create and centrally manage. Unused reserved instances (RIs) for EC2 are applied across the group so the organization can utilize their unused reserved instance instead of consuming on-demand instances which will lower their costs.
CORRECT: “Create an AWS Organization configuration linking the accounts” is the correct answer.
CORRECT: “Setup consolidated billing between the accounts” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Use Spot instances instead” is incorrect. Spot instance pricing is variable so it is not guaranteed to lower the cost and it is not suitable for workloads that cannot be unexpectedly terminated by AWS.
INCORRECT: “Redeem their reserved instances” is incorrect. You cannot redeem your reserved instances. You can sell them on the AWS marketplace, however.
INCORRECT: “Switch to using placement groups” is incorrect. Using placement groups will not lower their costs.
A user has an AWS account with a Business-level AWS Support plan and needs assistance with handling a production service disruption.
Which action should the user take?
a) Contact the dedicated Technical Account Manager
b) Open a business-critical system down support case
c) Open a production system down support case
d) Contact the dedicated AWS Concierge Support team
Explanation
The Business support plan provides a service level agreement (SLA) of < 1 hour for production system down support cases.
a) CORRECT: “Open a production system down support case” is the correct answer.
b) INCORRECT: “Contact the dedicated Technical Account Manager” is incorrect. The dedicated TAM only comes with the Enterprise support plan.
c) INCORRECT: “Contact the dedicated AWS Concierge Support team” is incorrect. The concierge support team only comes with the Enterprise support plan.
d) INCORRECT: “Open a business-critical system down support case” is incorrect. The business-critical system down support only comes with the Enterprise support plan.
What are two components of Amazon S3? (Select TWO.) a) Buckets b) File systems c) Directories d) Objects e) Block devices
Explanation
Amazon S3 is an object-based storage system that is accessed using a RESTful API over HTTP(S). It consists of buckets, which are root level folders, and objects, which are the files, images etc. that you upload
The terms directory, file system and block device do not apply to Amazon S3.
CORRECT: “Buckets” is a correct answer.
CORRECT: “Objects” is also a correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Directories” is incorrect as explained above.
INCORRECT: “Block devices” is incorrect as explained above.
INCORRECT: “File systems” is incorrect as explained above.
Which services can be used for asynchronous integration between application components? (Select TWO.) a) Amazon Step Functions b) AWS Route 53 c) AWS CloudFormation d) Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling e) Amazon SQS
a & e
Explanation
Asynchronous integration is a form of loose coupling between services. This model is suitable for any interaction that does not need an immediate response and where an acknowledgement that a request has been registered will suffice.
CORRECT: Amazon Step Functions
CORRECT: Amazon SQS
Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) and Amazon Step Functions both provide asynchronous integration. SQS provides a durable message bus and Step Functions is an orchestrated workflow service.
Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling helps with horizontal scaling of your EC2 instances. This is not an example of asynchronous integration.
AWS CloudFormation automates the deployment of infrastructure based on templates.
AWS Route 53 is a DNS service that resolves domain names to IP addresses.
What are the fundamental charges for an Amazon EC2 instance? (Select TWO.) a) Basic monitoring b) Your own AMIs c) Private IP address d) Server uptime e) Data storage
Explanation
When using EC2 instances you are charged for the compute uptime of the instance based on the family and type you chose. You are also charged for the amount of data provisioned.
CORRECT: “Data storage” is a correct answer.
CORRECT: “Server uptime” is also a correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Basic monitoring” is incorrect. Basic monitoring is free for EC2, detailed monitoring is charged.
INCORRECT: “AMI” is incorrect. Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) are not chargeable. You can purchase chargeable AMIs via the marketplace but you are not charged for any you create.
INCORRECT: “Private IP address” is incorrect. You do not pay for private IP addresses.
Which Amazon RDS deployment type is best used to enable fault tolerance in the event of the failure of an availability zone? a) Multiple Availability Zones b) Read Replicas c) Multiple Regions d) Write Replicas
Explanation
Multi AZ provides a mechanism to failover the RDS database to another synchronously replicated copy in the event of the failure of an AZ. The endpoint address for the RDS instances gets remapped to the standby instance as can be seen in the image below:
CORRECT: “Multiple Availability Zones” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Multiple Regions” is incorrect. There is no option for multiple region failover of Amazon RDS.
INCORRECT: “Read Replicas” is incorrect. Read replicas are used for offloading read traffic from a primary
database but cannot be used for writing. You can failover the DB by promoting a read replica in a DR situation but this is not the best answer as the multi-AZ feature is preferred.
INCORRECT: “Write Replicas” is incorrect. There is no such thing as write replicas.
What does an organization need to do in Amazon IAM to enable user access to services being launched in new region?
a) Update the user accounts to allow access from another region
b) Create new user accounts in the new region
c) Enable global mode in IAM to provision the required access
d) Nothing, IAM is global
Explanation
IAM is used to securely control individual and group access to AWS resources. IAM is universal (global) and does not apply to regions.
CORRECT: “Nothing, IAM is global” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Enable global mode in IAM to provision the required access” is incorrect as you do not need to do anything to use IAM globally.
INCORRECT: “Update the user accounts to allow access from another region” is incorrect as you don’t need to update user accounts.
INCORRECT: “Create new user accounts in the new region” is incorrect as IAM is global.
Which service can be added to a database to provide improved performance for some requests?
a) Amazon ElastiCache
b) Amazon EFS c) Amazon RDS d) Amazon RedShift
Explanation
Amazon ElastiCache provides in-memory caching which improves performance for read requests when the data is cached in ElastiCache. ElastiCache can be placed in front of your database.
CORRECT: “Amazon ElastiCache” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Amazon RedShift” is incorrect. Amazon RedShift is a data warehouse that is used for performing analytics on data.
INCORRECT: “Amazon EFS” is incorrect. Amazon EFS is an Elastic File System, not a caching service.
INCORRECT: “Amazon RDS” is incorrect. Amazon RDS is a relational SQL type of database. It is not a service that you place in front of another database to improve performance. Instead you might use RDS as your back-end database and use ElastiCache in front of it to improve performance through its in-memory caching.
The ability to horizontally scale Amazon EC2 instances based on demand is an example of which concept? a) Elasticity b) Economy of scale c) High availability d) Agility
Explanation
Elasticity is the ability to dynamically adjust the capacity of a service or resource based on demand. Scaling can be vertical (e.g. increase instance size) or horizontal (e.g. add more EC2 instances).
CORRECT: “Elasticity” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Economy of scale” is incorrect. This refers to pricing benefits based on AWS purchasing large amounts of resources.
INCORRECT: “High availability” is incorrect. This is an example of resilience.
INCORRECT: “Agility” is incorrect. This is an example of flexibility and speed of implementation.
What is the difference between an EBS volume and an Instance store?
a) Instance store volumes can be used with all EC2 instance types whereas EBS cannot
b) EBS volumes are file-level storage devices whereas Instance store volumes are object-based
c) Instance store volumes are ephemeral whereas EBS volumes are persistent storage
d) EBS volumes are object storage devices whereas Instance store volume are block based
Explanation
EBS-backed means the root volume is an EBS volume and storage is persistent. Instance store-backed means the root volume is an instance store volume and storage is not persistent. Both EBS and Instance store volumes are block-based storage devices.
EBS volumes can be used with all EC2 instance types whereas Instance store volumes are more limited in compatibility
CORRECT: “Instance store volumes are ephemeral whereas EBS volumes are persistent storage” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “EBS volumes are object storage devices whereas Instance store volume are block based” is incorrect as both are block-based storage devices.
INCORRECT: “Instance store volumes can be used with all EC2 instance types whereas EBS cannot” is incorrect as this is not true.
INCORRECT: “EBS volumes are file-level storage devices whereas Instance store volumes are object-based” is incorrect as both are block-based storage devices.
Which of the following is an architectural best practice recommended by AWS? a) Use manual operational processes b) Design for failure c) Design for success d) Think servers, not services
Explanation
It is recommended that you design for failure. This means always considering what would happen if a component of an application fails and ensuring there is resilience in the architecture.
CORRECT: “Design for failure” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Design for success” is incorrect. Design for success sounds good, but this is not an architectural best practice. As much as we want our applications to be successful, we should always be cognizant of the potential failures that might occur and ensure we are prepared for them.
INCORRECT: “Think servers, not services” is incorrect. AWS do not recommend that you “think servers, not services”. What they do recommend is that you “think services, not servers”. This means that you should consider using managed services and serverless services rather than just using Amazon EC2.
INCORRECT: “Use manual operational processes” is incorrect. You should not use manual operational processes; this is not an architectural best practice. You should automate as much as possible in the cloud.
Which feature of AWS IAM enables you to identify unnecessary permissions that have been assigned to users? a) Access Advisor b) Group Advisor c) Role Advisor d) Permissions Advisor
Explanation
The IAM console provides information about when IAM users and roles last attempted to access AWS services. This information is called service last accessed data. This data can help you identify unnecessary permissions so that you can refine your IAM policies to better adhere to the principle of “least privilege.”
That means granting the minimum permissions required to perform a specific task. You can find the data on the Access Advisor tab in the IAM console by examining the detail view for any IAM user, group, role, or managed policy.
CORRECT: “Access Advisor” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Role Advisor” is incorrect as this is not a valid feature.
INCORRECT: “Permissions Advisor” is incorrect as this is not a valid feature.
INCORRECT: “Group Advisor” is incorrect as this is not a valid feature.
What is the benefit of using fully managed services compared to deploying 3rd party software on EC2? a) You have greater control and flexibility b) Reduced operational overhead c) Improved security d) You don’t need to back-up your data
Explanation
Fully managed services reduce your operational overhead as AWS manage not just the infrastructure layer but the service layers above it. Examples are Amazon Aurora and Amazon ElastiCache where the database is managed for you.
CORRECT: “Reduced operational overhead” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “You don’t need to back-up your data” is incorrect. You do still need to backup your data. For instance, with Amazon ElastiCache it’s up to you to configure backups to S3.
INCORRECT: “Improved security” is incorrect. Security is not necessarily improved by managing your own software stack. AWS are extremely good at securing their services and there is arguably less chance that they will expose vulnerabilities than a customer who deploys their own applications.
INCORRECT: “You have greater control and flexibility” is incorrect. You do not have greater control and flexibility with fully managed services. AWS take more responsibility for providing the service and you therefore have fewer options. For example you may not be able to configure the performance parameters of a database as you’d like to or use your own backup or operational software.
To reduce the price of your Amazon EC2 instances, which term lengths are available for reserved instances? (Select TWO.) a) 4 years b) 1 year c) 3 years d) 5 years e) 2 years
Explanation
Reserved instances provide significant discounts, up to 75% compared to On-Demand pricing, by paying for capacity ahead of time. They are good for applications that have predictable usage, that need reserved capacity, and for customers who can commit to a 1 or 3-year term.
CORRECT: “1 year” is a correct answer.
CORRECT: “3 years” is also a correct answer.
INCORRECT: “4 years” is incorrect as only 1 and 3 year options are available.
INCORRECT: “5 years” is incorrect as only 1 and 3 year options are available.
INCORRECT: “2 years” is incorrect as only 1 and 3 year options are available.
Which Amazon EC2 pricing option provides significant discounts for fixed term contracts? a) Dedicated Hosts b) Spot Instances c) Dedicated Instances d) Reserved Instances
Explanation
Reserved instances provide significant discounts, up to 75% compared to On-Demand pricing, by paying for capacity ahead of time.
CORRECT: “Reserved Instances” is the correct answer.
INCORRECT: “Spot Instances” is incorrect. Spot Instances allow you to purchase spare computing capacity with no upfront commitment at discounted hourly rates. This is not used for long-term requirements.
INCORRECT: “Dedicated Instances” is incorrect. Dedicated Instances are Amazon EC2 instances that run in a VPC on hardware that’s dedicated to a single customer.
INCORRECT: “Dedicated Hosts” is incorrect. Dedicated hosts are EC2 servers dedicated to a single customer.
