AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C02) — Question 332

A company has no existing file share services. A new project requires access to file storage that is mountable as a drive for on-premises desktops. The file server must authenticate users to an Active Directory domain before they are able to access the storage.
Which service will allow Active Directory users to mount storage as a drive on their desktops?

Answer options

• A. Amazon S3 Glacier
• B. AWS DataSync
• C. AWS Snowball Edge
• D. AWS Storage Gateway

Correct answer: D

Explanation

AWS Storage Gateway, specifically the File Gateway configuration, supports integration with Active Directory to allow on-premises users to mount cloud-backed file shares locally via SMB. Amazon S3 Glacier is an archival storage service that cannot be mounted as a desktop drive, while AWS DataSync is used for data transfer and AWS Snowball Edge is a physical device for data migration and edge computing.