SAP-C02 Question 326
Select 2A company is running a batch processing workload on a fleet of Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. The workload is non-critical and can tolerate interruptions. The current solution uses On-Demand Instances but is exceeding the allocated budget. As a Solutions Architect, you need to design a cost-optimized solution while ensuring the workload continues to run successfully. What should you do to optimize costs?
- A
Use Spot Instances for the workload and configure the Auto Scaling group to maintain a balanced mix of On-Demand and Spot Instances.
- B
Enable Auto Scaling group capacity rebalancing to replace interrupted Spot Instances automatically.
- C
Purchase Reserved Instances for the workload to reduce costs over a long-term commitment.
- D
Switch to AWS Lambda for the processing workload to eliminate the need for EC2 instances.
- E
Use Savings Plans to reduce costs while maintaining the use of On-Demand Instances.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answers: A, B
Explanation
For non-critical, interruption-tolerant workloads, Spot Instances offer significant cost savings compared to On-Demand Instances. Combining Spot Instances with On-Demand Instances in an Auto Scaling group ensures a balance between cost optimization and reliability. Enabling capacity rebalancing further enhances the solution by automatically replacing interrupted Spot Instances, ensuring workload continuity. Reserved Instances and Savings Plans are not as cost-effective for this type of workload, and switching to AWS Lambda could introduce unnecessary complexity.
- A. Correct.
Using Spot Instances is a key strategy for cost optimization for workloads that are non-critical and can handle interruptions. A balanced mix of On-Demand and Spot Instances ensures reliability during Spot interruptions while reducing overall costs.
- B. Correct.
Enabling Auto Scaling group capacity rebalancing helps ensure that Spot Instances that are interrupted are replaced automatically, allowing the workload to continue running with minimal disruption.
- C. Incorrect.
Reserved Instances are suitable for steady-state, predictable workloads. However, they are not the best fit for this non-critical, interruption-tolerant batch workload as Spot Instances are more cost-effective in this scenario.
- D. Incorrect.
While AWS Lambda can be cost-effective for some workloads, migrating a batch processing workload from EC2 instances to Lambda may require significant re-architecture and might not be suitable depending on the nature of the workload.
- E. Incorrect.
Savings Plans can help reduce costs for On-Demand Instances, but they do not provide the same level of cost savings as Spot Instances for workloads that can tolerate interruptions.