SAA-C03 Free Practice Test

- (Topic 1)
A company wants to improve its ability to clone large amounts of production data into a test environment in the same AWS Region. The data is stored in Amazon EC2 instances on Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) volumes. Modifications to the cloned data must not affect the production environment. The software that accesses this data requires consistently high I/O performance.
A solutions architect needs to minimize the time that is required to clone the production data into the test environment.
Which solution will meet these requirements?

1. A. Take EBS snapshots of the production EBS volume
2. B. Restore the snapshots onto EC2 instance store volumes in the test environment.
3. C. Configure the production EBS volumes to use the EBS Multi-Attach featur
4. D. Take EBS snapshots of the production EBS volume
5. E. Attach the production EBS volumes to the EC2 instances in the test environment.
6. F. Take EBS snapshots of the production EBS volume
7. G. Create and initialize new EBS volume
8. H. Attach the new EBS volumes to EC2 instances in the test environment before restoring the volumes from the production EBS snapshots.
9. I. Take EBS snapshots of the production EBS volume
10. J. Turn on the EBS fast snapshot restore feature on the EBS snapshot
11. K. Restore the snapshots into new EBS volume
12. L. Attach the new EBS volumes to EC2 instances in the test environment.

Correct Answer: C
To clone the production data into the test environment with high I/O performance and without affecting the production environment, the best option is to take EBS snapshots of the production EBS volumes and restore them onto new EBS volumes in the test environment. Then, attach the new EBS volumes to EC2 instances in the test environment. This option minimizes the time required to clone the data and ensures that modifications to the cloned data do not affect the production environment. Therefore, option C is the correct answer.
Reference: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ebs-restoring-volume.html

- (Topic 2)
A company sells ringtones created from clips of popular songs. The files containing the ringtones are stored in Amazon S3 Standard and are at least 128 KB in size. The company has millions of files, but downloads are infrequent for ringtones older than 90 days. The company needs to save money on storage while keeping the most accessed files readily available for its users.
Which action should the company take to meet these requirements MOST cost-effectively?

1. A. Configure S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA) storage for the initial storage tier of the objects.
2. B. Move the files to S3 Intelligent-Tiering and configure it to move objects to a less expensive storage tier after 90 days.
3. C. Configure S3 inventory to manage objects and move them to S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-1A) after 90 days.
4. D. Implement an S3 Lifecycle policy that moves the objects from S3 Standard to S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-1A) after 90 days.

Correct Answer: D
This solution meets the requirements of saving money on storage while keeping the most accessed files readily available for the users. S3 Lifecycle policy can automatically move objects from one storage class to another based on predefined rules. S3 Standard-IA is a lower-cost storage class for data that is accessed less frequently, but requires rapid access when needed. It is suitable for ringtones older than 90 days that are downloaded infrequently.
Option A is incorrect because configuring S3 Standard-IA for the initial storage tier of the objects can incur higher costs for frequent access and retrieval fees. Option B is incorrect
because moving the files to S3 Intelligent-Tiering can incur additional monitoring and automation fees that may not be necessary for ringtones older than 90 days. Option C is incorrect because using S3 inventory to manage objects and move them to S3 Standard-IA can be complex and time-consuming, and it does not provide automatic cost savings. References:
✑ https://aws.amazon.com/s3/storage-classes/
✑ https://aws.amazon.com/s3/cloud-storage-cost-optimization-ebook/

- (Topic 4)
A company has multiple AWS accounts that use consolidated billing. The company runs
several active high performance Amazon RDS for Oracle On-Demand DB instances
for 90 days. The company's finance team has access to AWS Trusted Advisor in the consolidated billing account and all other AWS accounts.
The finance team needs to use the appropriate AWS account to access the Trusted Advisor check recommendations for RDS. The finance team must review the
appropriate Trusted Advisor check to reduce RDS costs.
Which combination of steps should the finance team take to meet these requirements? (Select TWO.)

1. A. Use the Trusted Advisor recommendations from the account where the RDS instances are running.
2. B. Use the Trusted Advisor recommendations from the consolidated billing account to see all RDS instance checks at the same time.
3. C. Review the Trusted Advisor check for Amazon RDS Reserved Instance Optimization.
4. D. Review the Trusted Advisor check for Amazon RDS Idle DB Instances.
5. E. Review the Trusted Advisor check for Amazon Redshift Reserved Node Optimization.

Correct Answer: BC
B. Use the Trusted Advisor recommendations from the consolidated billing account to see all RDS instance checks at the same time.
The consolidated billing account has access to all the other AWS accounts that use consolidated billing. Using the Trusted Advisor recommendations from the consolidated billing account will allow the finance team to see all RDS instance checks for all accounts at the same time.
* C. Review the Trusted Advisor check for Amazon RDS Reserved Instance Optimization. The Trusted Advisor check for Amazon RDS Reserved Instance Optimization provides recommendations for purchasing reserved instances to reduce RDS costs. By reviewing this check, the finance team can identify which RDS instances can be converted to reserved instances to save costs.

- (Topic 4)
A company wants to securely exchange data between its software as a service (SaaS) application Salesforce account and Amazon S3. The company must encrypt the data at rest by using AWS Key Management Service (AWS KMS) customer managed keys (CMKs). The company must also encrypt the data in transit. The company has enabled API access for the Salesforce account.
Which solution will meet these requirements with the LEAST development effort?

1. A. Create AWS Lambda functions to transfer the data securely from Salesforce to Amazon S3.
2. B. Create an AWS Step Functions workflow Define the task to transfer the data securely from Salesforce to Amazon S3.
3. C. Create Amazon AppFlow flows to transfer the data securely from Salesforce to Amazon S3.
4. D. Create a custom connector for Salesforce to transfer the data securely from Salesforce to Amazon S3.

Correct Answer: C
Amazon AppFlow is a fully managed integration service that enables users to transfer data securely between SaaS applications and AWS services. It supports Salesforce as a source and Amazon S3 as a destination. It also supports encryption of data at rest using AWS KMS CMKs and encryption of data in transit using SSL/TLS1. By using Amazon AppFlow, the solution can meet the requirements with the least development effort.
* A. Create AWS Lambda functions to transfer the data securely from Salesforce to Amazon S3. This solution will not meet the requirement of the least development effort, as it involves writing custom code to interact with Salesforce and Amazon S3 APIs, handle authentication, encryption, error handling, and monitoring2.
* B. Create an AWS Step Functions workflow Define the task to transfer the data securely from Salesforce to Amazon S3. This solution will not meet the requirement of the least development effort, as it involves creating a state machine definition to orchestrate the data transfer task, and invoking Lambda functions or other services to perform the actual data transfer3.
* D. Create a custom connector for Salesforce to transfer the data securely from Salesforce to Ama-zon S3. This solution will not meet the requirement of the least development effort, as it involves using the Amazon AppFlow Custom Connector SDK to build and deploy a custom connector for Salesforce, which requires additional configuration and management. Reference URL: https://aws.amazon.com/appflow/

- (Topic 4)
A company runs multiple workloads in its on-premises data center. The company's data center cannot scale fast enough to meet the company's expanding business needs. The company wants to collect usage and configuration data about the on-premises servers and workloads to plan a migration to AWS.
Which solution will meet these requirements?

1. A. Set the home AWS Region in AWS Migration Hu
2. B. Use AWS Systems Manager to collect data about the on-premises servers.
3. C. Set the home AWS Region in AWS Migration Hu
4. D. Use AWS Application Discovery Service to collect data about the on-premises servers.
5. E. Use the AWS Schema Conversion Tool (AWS SCT) to create the relevant template
6. F. Use AWS Trusted Advisor to collect data about the on-premises servers.
7. G. Use the AWS Schema Conversion Tool (AWS SCT) to create the relevant templates.Use AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) to collect data about the on-premises servers.

Correct Answer: B
The most suitable solution for the company’s requirements is to set the home AWS Region in AWS Migration Hub and use AWS Application Discovery Service to collect data about the on-premises servers. This solution will enable the company to gather usage and configuration data of its on-premises servers and workloads, and plan a migration to AWS.
AWS Migration Hub is a service that simplifies and accelerates migration tracking by aggregating migration status information into a single console. Users can view the discovered servers, group them into applications, and track the migration status of each application from the Migration Hub console in their home Region. The home Region is the AWS Region where users store their migration data, regardless of which Regions they migrate into1.
AWS Application Discovery Service is a service that helps users plan their migration to AWS by collecting usage and configuration data about their on-premises servers and databases. Application Discovery Service is integrated with AWS Migration Hub and supports two methods of performing discovery: agentless discovery and agent-based discovery. Agentless discovery can be performed by deploying the Application Discovery Service Agentless Collector through VMware vCenter, which collects static configuration data and utilization data for virtual machines (VMs) and databases. Agent-based discovery can be performed by deploying the AWS Application Discovery Agent on each of the VMs and physical servers, which collects static configuration data, detailed time-series system- performance information, inbound and outbound network connections, and processes that are running2.
The other options are not correct because they do not meet the requirements or are not relevant for the use case. Using the AWS Schema Conversion Tool (AWS SCT) to create the relevant templates and using AWS Trusted Advisor to collect data about the on- premises servers is not correct because this solution is not suitable for collecting usage and configuration data of on-premises servers and workloads. AWS SCT is a tool that helps users convert database schemas and code objects from one database engine to another, such as from Oracle to PostgreSQL3. AWS Trusted Advisor is a service that provides best practice recommendations for cost optimization, performance, security, fault tolerance, and service limits4. Using the AWS Schema Conversion Tool (AWS SCT) to create the relevant templates and using AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) to collect data about the on-premises servers is not correct because this solution is not suitable for collecting usage and configuration data of on-premises servers and workloads. As mentioned above, AWS SCT is a tool that helps users convert database schemas and code objects from one database engine to another. AWS DMS is a service that helps users migrate relational databases, non-relational databases, and other types of data stores to
AWS with minimal downtime5. References:
✑ Home Region - AWS Migration Hub
✑ What is AWS Application Discovery Service? - AWS Application Discovery Service
✑ AWS Schema Conversion Tool - Amazon Web Services
✑ What Is Trusted Advisor? - Trusted Advisor
✑ What Is AWS Database Migration Service? - AWS Database Migration Service