AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional (SAP-C02) — Question 137

A company runs a content management application on a single Windows Amazon EC2 instance in a development environment. The application reads and writes static content to a 2 TB Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) volume that is attached to the instance as the root device. The company plans to deploy this application in production as a highly available and fault-tolerant solution that runs on at least three EC2 instances across multiple Availability Zones.

A solutions architect must design a solution that joins all the instances that run the application to an Active Directory domain. The solution also must implement Windows ACLs to control access to file contents. The application always must maintain exactly the same content on all running instances at any given point in time.

Which solution will meet these requirements with the LEAST management overhead?

Answer options

• A. Create an Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) file share. Create an Auto Scaling group that extends across three Availability Zones and maintains a minimum size of three instances. Implement a user data script to install the application, join the instance to the AD domain, and mount the EFS file share.
• B. Create a new AMI from the current EC2 Instance that is running. Create an Amazon FSx for Lustre file system. Create an Auto Scaling group that extends across three Availability Zones and maintains a minimum size of three instances. Implement a user data script to join the instance to the AD domain and mount the FSx for Lustre file system.
• C. Create an Amazon FSx for Windows File Server file system. Create an Auto Scaling group that extends across three Availability Zones and maintains a minimum size of three instances. Implement a user data script to install the application and mount the FSx for Windows File Server file system. Perform a seamless domain join to join the instance to the AD domain.
• D. Create a new AMI from the current EC2 instance that is running. Create an Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) file system. Create an Auto Scaling group that extends across three Availability Zones and maintains a minimum size of three Instances. Perform a seamless domain join to join the instance to the AD domain.

Correct answer: C

Explanation

Option C is the best choice as Amazon FSx for Windows File Server is designed for Windows applications and supports Active Directory integration, which simplifies management. It ensures all instances can access the same file system and maintain consistent content with minimal overhead. Options A and D use EFS, which is not optimized for Windows ACLs, and option B uses FSx for Lustre, which is not suited for the requirements of seamless AD integration.