Question 1

In order to optimize performance for a compute cluster that requires low inter-node latency, which feature in the following list should you use?
A) AWS Direct Connect
B) Placement Groups
C) VPC private subnets
D) EC2 Dedicated Instances
E) Multiple Availability Zones

Accepted Answer

Placement Groups, specifically Cluster Placement Groups, are designed to provide low-latency networking between instances in a compute cluster by placing them physically close together within a single Availability Zone.

Question 2

A user is trying to connect to a running EC2 instance using SSH. However, the user gets an Unprotected Private Key File error. Which of the below mentioned options can be a possible reason for rejection?
A) The private key file has the wrong file permission
B) The ppk file used for SSH is read only
C) The public key file has the wrong permission
D) The user has provided the wrong user name for the OS login

Accepted Answer

The Unprotected Private Key File error typically occurs when the private key file has permissions that are too open. The file should have restrictive permissions, such as 600, to ensure it is not accessible by others.

Question 3

A user is planning to scale up an application by 8 AM and scale down by 7 PM daily using Auto Scaling. What should the user do in this case?
A) Setup the scaling policy to scale up and down based on the CloudWatch alarms
B) The user should increase the desired capacity at 8 AM and decrease it by 7 PM manually
C) The user should setup a batch process which launches the EC2 instance at a specific time
D) Setup scheduled actions to scale up or down at a specific time

Accepted Answer

Scheduled actions allow the user to automatically scale the application at specific times, such as scaling up at 8 AM and scaling down at 7 PM.

Question 4

When an EC2 instance mat is backed by an S3-Based AMI is terminated, what happens to the data on the root volume?
A) Data is automatically deleted          
B) Data is automatically saved as an EBS snapshot.
C) Data is unavailable until the instance is restarted
D) Data is automatically saved as an EBS volume.

Accepted Answer

When an EC2 instance backed by an S3-based AMI is terminated, the data on the root volume is automatically deleted. This is because the root volume is ephemeral and does not persist after the instance is terminated.

Question 5

A user has launched an EC2 instance from an instance store backed AMI. The user has attached an additional instance store volume to the instance. The user wants to create an AMI from the running instance. Will the AMI have the additional instance store volume data?
A) Yes, the block device mapping will have information about the additional instance store volume
B) No, since the instance store backed AMI can have only the root volume bundled
C) It is not possible to attach an additional instance store volume to the existing instance store backed AMI instance
D) No, since this is ephemeral storage it will not be a part of the AMI

Accepted Answer

The block device mapping will have information about the additional instance store volume

Question 6

A user has created a launch configuration for Auto Scaling where CloudWatch detailed monitoring is disabled. The user wants to now enable detailed monitoring. How can the user achieve this?
A) Update the Launch config with CLI to set InstanceMonitoringDisabled = false
B) The user should change the Auto Scaling group from the AWS console to enable detailed monitoring
C) Update the Launch config with CLI to set InstanceMonitoring.Enabled = true
D) Create a new Launch Config with detail monitoring enabled and update the Auto Scaling group

Accepted Answer

Launch configurations cannot be modified after creation. To enable detailed monitoring, the user must create a new launch configuration with detailed monitoring enabled and then update the Auto Scaling group to use the new launch configuration.

Question 7

A user is having data generated randomly based on a certain event. The user wants to upload that data to CloudWatch. It may happen that event may not have data generated for some period due to randomness. Which of the below mentioned options is a recommended option for this case?
A) For the period when there is no data, the user should not send the data at all
B) For the period when there is no data the user should send a blank value
C) For the period when there is no data the user should send the value as 0
D) The user must upload the data to CloudWatch as having no data for some period will cause an error at CloudWatch monitoring

Accepted Answer

Sending a value of 0 for periods with no data ensures that CloudWatch can accurately represent the absence of data, allowing for consistent monitoring and alerting.

Question 8

An organization is planning to create a user with IAM. They are trying to understand the limitations of IAM so that they can plan accordingly. Which of the below mentioned statements is not true with respect to the limitations of IAM?
A) One IAM user can be a part of a maximum of 5 groups
B) The organization can create 100 groups per AWS account
C) One AWS account can have a maximum of 5000 IAM users
D) One AWS account can have 250 roles

Accepted Answer

IAM users can be part of up to 10 groups, not 5.

Question 9

A user has configured an ELB to distribute the traffic among multiple instances. The user instances are facing some issues due to the back-end servers. Which of the below mentioned CloudWatch metrics helps the user understand the issue with the instances?
A) HTTPCode_Backend_3XX
B) HTTPCode_Backend_4XX
C) HTTPCode_Backend_2XX
D) HTTPCode_Backend_5XX

Accepted Answer

HTTPCode_Backend_5XX indicates server-side errors, which can help diagnose issues with the back-end servers.

Question 10

A user is trying to create a PIOPS EBS volume with 8 GB size and 200 IOPS. Will AWS create the volume?
A) Yes, since the ratio between EBS and IOPS is less than 30
B) No, since the PIOPS and EBS size ratio is less than 30
C) No, the EBS size is less than 10 GB
D) Yes, since PIOPS is higher than 100

Accepted Answer

PIOPS EBS volumes require a ratio of at least 30 IOPS per GB of storage. In this case, the ratio is 200 IOPS / 8 GB = 25 IOPS per GB, which is less than the required ratio. Therefore, AWS will not create the volume.

Question 11

A user is trying to understand the CloudWatch metrics for the AWS services. It is required that the user should first understand the namespace for the AWS services. Which of the below mentioned is not a valid namespace for the AWS services?
A) AWS/StorageGateway
B) AWS/CloudTrail
C) AWS/ElastiCache
D) AWS/SWF

Accepted Answer

AWS/CloudTrail is not a valid namespace for CloudWatch metrics. CloudTrail is a service for logging and monitoring account activity, but it does not have a specific CloudWatch namespace for metrics.

Question 12

A user has created an application which will be hosted on EC2. The application makes calls to DynamoDB to fetch certain data. The application is using the DynamoDB SDK to connect with from the EC2 instance. Which of the below mentioned statements is true with respect to the best practice for security in this scenario?
A) The user should attach an IAM role with DynamoDB access to the EC2 instance
B) The user should create an IAM user with DynamoDB access and use its credentials within the application to connect with DynamoDB
C) The user should create an IAM role, which has EC2 access so that it will allow deploying the application
D) The user should create an IAM user with DynamoDB and EC2 access. Attach the user with the application so that it does not use the root account credentials

Accepted Answer

Attaching an IAM role with DynamoDB access to the EC2 instance is the best practice. This allows the application to securely access DynamoDB without embedding credentials in the application code.

Question 13

A user has created a VPC with a public subnet. The user has terminated all the instances which are part of the subnet. Which of the below mentioned statements is true with respect to this scenario?
A) The user cannot delete the VPC since the subnet is not deleted
B) All network interface attached with the instances will be deleted
C) When the user launches a new instance it cannot use the same subnet
D) The subnet to which the instances were launched with will be deleted

Accepted Answer

When instances are terminated, their associated network interfaces are also deleted. The subnet remains available for future use.

Question 14

An organization has configured Auto Scaling for hosting their application. The system admin wants to understand the Auto Scaling health check process. If the instance is unhealthy, Auto Scaling launches an instance and terminates the unhealthy instance. What is the order execution?
A) Auto Scaling launches a new instance first and then terminates the unhealthy instance
B) Auto Scaling performs the launch and terminate processes in a random order
C) Auto Scaling launches and terminates the instances simultaneously
D) Auto Scaling terminates the instance first and then launches a new instance

Accepted Answer

The answer of An organization has configured Auto Scaling for...

Question 15

A sys admin is trying to understand the sticky session algorithm. Please select the correct sequence of steps, both when the cookie is present and when it is not, to help the admin understand the implementation of the sticky session: ELB inserts the cookie in the response ELB chooses the instance based on the load balancing algorithm Check the cookie in the service request The cookie is found in the request The cookie is not found in the request
A) 3,1,4,2 [Cookie is not Present] & 3,1,5,2 [Cookie is Present]
B) 3,4,1,2 [Cookie is not Present] & 3,5,1,2 [Cookie is Present]
C) 3,5,2,1 [Cookie is not Present] & 3,4,2,1 [Cookie is Present]
D) 3,2,5,4 [Cookie is not Present] & 3,2,4,5 [Cookie is Present]

Accepted Answer

When the cookie is not present, the sequence is: Check the cookie in the service request (3), Cookie is not found in the request (5), ELB chooses the instance based on the load balancing algorithm (2), ELB inserts the cookie in the response (1). When the cookie is present, the sequence is: Check the cookie in the service request (3), Cookie is found in the request (4), ELB chooses the instance based on the load balancing algorithm (2), ELB inserts the cookie in the response (1).

Question 16

An organization (Account ID 123412341234) has attached the below mentioned IAM policy to a user. What does this policy statement entitle the user to perform? 
A) The policy allows the IAM user to modify all IAM user's credentials using the console, SDK, CLI or APIs
B) The policy will give an invalid resource error
C) The policy allows the IAM user to modify all credentials using only the console
D) The policy allows the user to modify all IAM user's password, sign in certificates and access keys using only CLI, SDK or APIs

Accepted Answer

The answer of An organization (Account ID 123412341234) has attached...

Question 17

A user is trying to understand the detailed CloudWatch monitoring concept. Which of the below mentioned services provides detailed monitoring with CloudWatch without charging the user extra?
A) AWS Auto Scaling
B) AWS Route 53
C) AWS EMR
D) AWS SNS

Accepted Answer

AWS Route 53 provides detailed monitoring with CloudWatch without additional charges.

Question 18

A user is collecting 1000 records per second. The user wants to send the data to CloudWatch using the custom namespace. Which of the below mentioned options is recommended for this activity?
A) Aggregate the data with statistics, such as Min, max, Average, Sum and Sample data and send the data to CloudWatch
B) Send all the data values to CloudWatch in a single command by separating them with a comma. CloudWatch will parse automatically
C) Create one csv file of all the data and send a single file to CloudWatch
D) It is not possible to send all the data in one call. Thus, it should be sent one by one. CloudWatch will aggregate the data automatically

Accepted Answer

CloudWatch recommends aggregating data with statistics like Min, Max, Average, Sum, and Sample count before sending it to reduce the number of API calls and efficiently utilize CloudWatch's capabilities.

Question 19

A user has provisioned 2000 IOPS to the EBS volume. The application hosted on that EBS is experiencing less IOPS than provisioned. Which of the below mentioned options does not affect the IOPS of the volume?
A) The application does not have enough IO for the volume
B) The instance is EBS optimized
C) The EC2 instance has 10 Gigabit Network connectivity
D) The volume size is too large

Accepted Answer

The volume size being too large does not affect the IOPS. IOPS performance is more related to the provisioned IOPS, instance type, and network connectivity.

Question 20

A system admin wants to add more zones to the existing ELB. The system admin wants to perform this activity from CLI. Which of the below mentioned command helps the system admin to add new zones to the existing ELB?
A) elb-enable-zones-for-lb
B) elb-add-zones-for-lb
C) It is not possible to add more zones to the existing ELB
D) elb-configure-zones-for-lb

Accepted Answer

elb-enable-zones-for-lb command is used to add new zones to the existing ELB.

Exam 13: AWS Certified SysOps Administrator (SOA-C01)

In order to optimize performance for a compute cluster that requires low inter-node latency, which feature in the following list should you use?

A user is trying to connect to a running EC2 instance using SSH. However, the user gets an Unprotected Private Key File error. Which of the below mentioned options can be a possible reason for rejection?

A user is planning to scale up an application by 8 AM and scale down by 7 PM daily using Auto Scaling. What should the user do in this case?

When an EC2 instance mat is backed by an S3-Based AMI is terminated, what happens to the data on the root volume?

A user has launched an EC2 instance from an instance store backed AMI. The user has attached an additional instance store volume to the instance. The user wants to create an AMI from the running instance. Will the AMI have the additional instance store volume data?

A user has created a launch configuration for Auto Scaling where CloudWatch detailed monitoring is disabled. The user wants to now enable detailed monitoring. How can the user achieve this?

A user is having data generated randomly based on a certain event. The user wants to upload that data to CloudWatch. It may happen that event may not have data generated for some period due to randomness. Which of the below mentioned options is a recommended option for this case?

An organization is planning to create a user with IAM. They are trying to understand the limitations of IAM so that they can plan accordingly. Which of the below mentioned statements is not true with respect to the limitations of IAM?

A user has configured an ELB to distribute the traffic among multiple instances. The user instances are facing some issues due to the back-end servers. Which of the below mentioned CloudWatch metrics helps the user understand the issue with the instances?

A user is trying to create a PIOPS EBS volume with 8 GB size and 200 IOPS. Will AWS create the volume?

A user is trying to understand the CloudWatch metrics for the AWS services. It is required that the user should first understand the namespace for the AWS services. Which of the below mentioned is not a valid namespace for the AWS services?

A user has created a VPC with a public subnet. The user has terminated all the instances which are part of the subnet. Which of the below mentioned statements is true with respect to this scenario?

An organization has configured Auto Scaling for hosting their application. The system admin wants to understand the Auto Scaling health check process. If the instance is unhealthy, Auto Scaling launches an instance and terminates the unhealthy instance. What is the order execution?

An organization (Account ID 123412341234) has attached the below mentioned IAM policy to a user. What does this policy statement entitle the user to perform?

A user is trying to understand the detailed CloudWatch monitoring concept. Which of the below mentioned services provides detailed monitoring with CloudWatch without charging the user extra?

A user is collecting 1000 records per second. The user wants to send the data to CloudWatch using the custom namespace. Which of the below mentioned options is recommended for this activity?

A user has provisioned 2000 IOPS to the EBS volume. The application hosted on that EBS is experiencing less IOPS than provisioned. Which of the below mentioned options does not affect the IOPS of the volume?

A system admin wants to add more zones to the existing ELB. The system admin wants to perform this activity from CLI. Which of the below mentioned command helps the system admin to add new zones to the existing ELB?