AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional — Question 628

A video processing company wants to build a machine learning (ML) model by using 600 TB of compressed data that is stored as thousands of files in the company's on-premises network attached storage system. The company does not have the necessary compute resources on premises for ML experiments and wants to use AWS.
The company needs to complete the data transfer to AWS within 3 weeks. The data transfer will be a one-time transfer. The data must be encrypted in transit. The measured upload speed of the company's internet connection is 100 Mbps, and multiple departments share the connection.
Which solution will meet these requirements MOST cost-effectively?

Answer options

• A. Order several AWS Snowball Edge Storage Optimized devices by using the AWS Management Console. Configure the devices with a destination S3 bucket. Copy the data to the devices. Ship the devices back to AWS.
• B. Set up a 10 Gbps AWS Direct Connect connection between the company location and the nearest AWS Region. Transfer the data over a VPN connection into the Region to store the data in Amazon S3.
• C. Create a VPN connection between the on-premises network storage and the nearest AWS Region. Transfer the data over the VPN connection.
• D. Deploy an AWS Storage Gateway file gateway on premises. Configure the file gateway with a destination S3 bucket. Copy the data to the file gateway.

Correct answer: A

Explanation

Transferring 600 TB of data over a shared 100 Mbps internet connection would take more than 500 days, making network-based transfer methods like VPN or AWS Storage Gateway impossible within the 3-week deadline. Setting up a 10 Gbps AWS Direct Connect connection is costly and typically takes longer than 3 weeks to provision for a one-time transfer. Utilizing AWS Snowball Edge Storage Optimized devices provides a secure, physical transfer mechanism that easily meets the 3-week timeframe and is highly cost-effective.