AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C02) — Question 178

A company currently has 250 TB of backup files stored in Amazon S3 in a vendor's proprietary format. Using a Linux-based software application provided by the vendor, the company wants to retrieve files from Amazon S3, transform the files to an industry-standard format, and re-upload them to Amazon S3. The company wants to minimize the data transfer charges associated with this conversation.
What should a solutions architect do to accomplish this?

Answer options

• A. Install the conversion software as an Amazon S3 batch operation so the data is transformed without leaving Amazon S3.
• B. Install the conversion software onto an on-premises virtual machine. Perform the transformation and re-upload the files to Amazon S3 from the virtual machine.
• C. Use AWS Snowball Edge devices to export the data and install the conversion software onto the devices. Perform the data transformation and re-upload the files to Amazon S3 from the Snowball Edge devices.
• D. Launch an Amazon EC2 instance in the same Region as Amazon S3 and install the conversion software onto the instance. Perform the transformation and re- upload the files to Amazon S3 from the EC2 instance.

Correct answer: D

Explanation

The correct answer is D because launching an EC2 instance in the same region as Amazon S3 minimizes data transfer costs by avoiding cross-region charges. Option A is incorrect as Amazon S3 batch operations do not support the installation of third-party software. Option B incurs additional costs due to data transfer from AWS to on-premises. Option C involves using Snowball Edge, which is unnecessary and less cost-effective for this scenario.