AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C02) — Question 750

A company wants to migrate a Windows-based application from on premises to the AWS Cloud. The application has three tiers: an application tier, a business tier, and a database tier with Microsoft SQL Server. The company wants to use specific features of SQL Server such as native backups and Data Quality Services. The company also needs to share files for processing between the tiers.
How should a solutions architect design the architecture to meet these requirements?

Answer options

• A. Host all three tiers on Amazon EC2 instances. Use Amazon FSx File Gateway for file sharing between the tiers.
• B. Host all three tiers on Amazon EC2 instances. Use Amazon FSx for Windows File Server for file sharing between the tiers.
• C. Host the application tier and the business tier on Amazon EC2 instances. Host the database tier on Amazon RDS. Use Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) for file sharing between the tiers.
• D. Host the application tier and the business tier on Amazon EC2 instances. Host the database tier on Amazon RDS. Use a Provisioned IOPS SSD (io2) Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) volume for file sharing between the tiers.

Correct answer: B

Explanation

Hosting Microsoft SQL Server on Amazon EC2 is necessary because Amazon RDS for SQL Server does not support Data Quality Services (DQS), which requires full administrative access to the underlying operating system. For Windows-based environments, Amazon FSx for Windows File Server is the ideal choice for sharing files between EC2 instances as it provides native SMB file shares. Amazon FSx File Gateway is intended for hybrid cloud storage rather than intra-AWS communication, making Option B the correct solution.