SAP-C02 Question 322
Select 3A company runs a fleet of Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group to support a web application. The workload is highly variable, with peak traffic occurring during the daytime, and a significant drop-off during nighttime. The company is looking to optimize costs while ensuring sufficient capacity to handle peak traffic. What cost optimization strategies should the Solutions Architect implement?
- A
Configure a scheduled scaling policy to scale down instances during nighttime and scale up during daytime.
- B
Switch the Auto Scaling group to use On-Demand Instances exclusively to ensure consistent performance.
- C
Leverage Spot Instances for non-critical workloads within the Auto Scaling group.
- D
Use EC2 Savings Plans to reduce costs for predictable compute usage.
- E
Implement AWS Cost Explorer to monitor costs but make no scaling changes.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answers: A, C, D
Explanation
The correct strategies for cost optimization in this scenario involve reducing unnecessary costs during low-traffic periods by using scheduled scaling, leveraging Spot Instances for non-critical workloads, and committing to EC2 Savings Plans for predictable usage. These approaches balance cost savings with performance requirements. On the other hand, exclusively using On-Demand Instances is not cost-efficient, and simply monitoring costs without actionable changes does not optimize spending.
- A. Correct.
Configuring a scheduled scaling policy allows the Auto Scaling group to scale down during low-traffic periods (nighttime) and scale up during high-traffic periods (daytime), reducing costs while maintaining application availability.
- B. Incorrect.
Using On-Demand Instances exclusively does not optimize costs; it is the most expensive option for running EC2 instances compared to alternatives like Spot Instances or Savings Plans.
- C. Correct.
Spot Instances are a cost-effective option for non-critical workloads. They allow the company to utilize unused EC2 capacity at a lower cost, which is ideal for workloads that can tolerate interruptions.
- D. Correct.
EC2 Savings Plans provide significant discounts on predictable compute usage, making them an effective cost optimization strategy for workloads with consistent usage patterns.
- E. Incorrect.
Monitoring costs with AWS Cost Explorer provides useful insights but does not directly contribute to cost optimization unless specific actions are taken based on the insights.