AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C02) — Question 425

A media company is using two video conversion tools that run on Amazon EC2 instances. One tool runs on Windows instances, and the other tool runs on Linux instances. Each video file is large in size and must be processed by both tools.
The company needs a storage solution that can provide a centralized file system that can be mounted on all the EC2 instances that are used in this process.
Which solution meets these requirements?

Answer options

• A. Use Amazon FSx for Windows File Server for the Windows instances. Use Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) with Max I/O performance mode for the Linux instances.
• B. Use Amazon FSx for Windows File Server for the Windows instances. Use Amazon FSx for Lustre for the Linux instances. Link both Amazon FSx file systems to the same Amazon S3 bucket.
• C. Use Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) with General Purpose performance mode for the Windows instances and the Linux instances
• D. Use Amazon FSx for Windows File Server for the Windows instances and the Linux instances.

Correct answer: D

Explanation

Amazon FSx for Windows File Server supports the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, which allows it to be mounted concurrently on both Windows and Linux EC2 instances, meeting the requirement for a single, centralized file system. Options A and B are incorrect because they use separate file systems, which would add complexity and prevent direct, shared access to the same files. Option C is incorrect because Amazon EFS is a Linux-native file system and does not provide native, high-performance SMB support for Windows instances.