AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) — Question 986

A company's infrastructure consists of hundreds of Amazon EC2 instances that use Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) storage. A solutions architect must ensure that every EC2 instance can be recovered after a disaster.

What should the solutions architect do to meet this requirement with the LEAST amount of effort?

Answer options

• A. Take a snapshot of the EBS storage that is attached to each EC2 instance. Create an AWS CloudFormation template to launch new EC2 instances from the EBS storage.
• B. Take a snapshot of the EBS storage that is attached to each EC2 instance. Use AWS Elastic Beanstalk to set the environment based on the EC2 template and attach the EBS storage.
• C. Use AWS Backup to set up a backup plan for the entire group of EC2 instances. Use the AWS Backup API or the AWS CLI to speed up the restore process for multiple EC2 instances.
• D. Create an AWS Lambda function to take a snapshot of the EBS storage that is attached to each EC2 instance and copy the Amazon Machine Images (AMIs). Create another Lambda function to perform the restores with the copied AMIs and attach the EBS storage.

Correct answer: C

Explanation

AWS Backup provides a fully managed, centralized backup service that automates the protection of Amazon EC2 instances and EBS volumes, making it the solution with the least operational overhead. Other options involving manual AWS Lambda functions, custom AWS CloudFormation templates, or AWS Elastic Beanstalk configurations require significant custom development and ongoing maintenance. Leveraging the AWS Backup API or AWS CLI allows for efficient, automated recovery of multiple instances during a disaster.