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Amazon CLF-C02: How to Ensure EC2 Instances Are in Separate Data Centers with Minimal Latency?

Learn how to ensure two Amazon EC2 instances are placed in separate data centers with minimal latency. Understand the role of AWS Availability Zones and why this is the best approach for high availability and fault tolerance.

Question

A company wants to ensure that two Amazon EC2 instances are in separate data centers with minimal communication latency between the centers. How can the company meet this requirement?

A. Place the EC2 instances in two separate AWS Regions connected with a VPC peering connection
B. Place the EC2 instances in two separate Availability Zones within the same AWS Region
C. Place one EC2 instance on-premises and the other in an AWS Region. Then connect them using an AWS VPN connection
D. Place both EC2 instances in a placement group for dedicated bandwidth

Answer

B. Place the EC2 instances in two separate Availability Zones within the same AWS Region

Explanation

Placing the EC2 instances in two separate Availability Zones within the same AWS Region is the best way to meet the requirement. Availability Zones are isolated locations within an AWS Region that have independent power, cooling, and physical security, and are connected to each other with high-bandwidth, low-latency networks.

To meet the requirement of placing two EC2 instances in separate data centers while maintaining minimal communication latency, you should deploy them in two separate Availability Zones (AZs) within the same AWS Region. Here’s why:

What Are Availability Zones (AZs)?

  • An AZ is a physically distinct data center within an AWS Region. Each AZ is isolated from failures in other AZs but connected via low-latency, high-bandwidth networking.
  • By placing instances in different AZs, you achieve fault isolation while ensuring low latency between them, as AZs within a region are designed for high-speed communication.

Why This Approach Works

  • High Availability: Deploying instances across multiple AZs ensures that if one AZ experiences an outage, the other instance remains operational.
  • Low Latency: Communication between AZs within the same region is optimized for minimal latency, unlike communication across regions.
  • Cost Efficiency: Unlike inter-region communication, which incurs additional costs and higher latency, intra-region AZ communication is cost-effective.

Why Other Options Are Incorrect

A. Place the EC2 instances in two separate AWS Regions connected with a VPC peering connection: While this ensures separation, inter-region communication introduces significant latency and higher costs compared to intra-region communication.
C. Place one EC2 instance on-premises and the other in an AWS Region connected via VPN: This setup would result in much higher latency and complexity due to VPN overhead and geographical distance.
D. Place both EC2 instances in a placement group for dedicated bandwidth: Placement groups (e.g., Cluster Placement Groups) are designed for low-latency networking but require instances to be in the same AZ, which does not meet the requirement of separation across data centers.

Key Takeaways for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam (CLF-C02)

  • Always choose multiple Availability Zones for high availability and fault tolerance when designing resilient architectures.
  • Understand that placement groups are used for specific performance optimizations (e.g., low-latency networking or failure isolation) but do not span multiple AZs.
  • Avoid inter-region deployments unless specifically required for disaster recovery or compliance reasons due to increased latency and cost.

By selecting option B, you ensure your architecture aligns with AWS best practices for availability, resilience, and performance.

How to Ensure EC2 Instances Are in Separate Data Centers with Minimal Latency?

Amazon AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner CLF-C02 certification exam practice question and answer (Q&A) dump with detail explanation and reference available free, helpful to pass the Amazon AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner CLF-C02 exam and earn Amazon AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner CLF-C02 certification.