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SOA-C02: What should SysOps do to ensure network performance support required communication between the EC2 instances for HPC application

By: Author Alex Lim

Posted on  - Last updated:

Categories Exam

Question

A company runs a high performance computing (HPC) application on an Amazon EC2 instance. The company needs to scale this architecture to two or more EC2 instances. The EC2 instances will need to communicate with each other at high speeds with low latency to support the application. The company wants to ensure that the network performance can support the required communication between the EC2 instances. What should a SysOps administrator do to meet these requirements?

A. Create a cluster placement group. Back up the existing EC2 instance to an Amazon Machine Image (AMI). Restore the EC2 instance from the AMI into the placement group. Launch the additional EC2 instances into the placement group.
B. Back up the existing EC2 instance to an Amazon Machine Image (AMI). Create a launch template from the existing EC2 instance by specifying the AMI. Create an Auto Scaling group and configure the desired instance count.
C. Create a Network Load Balancer (NLB) and a target group. Launch the new EC2 instances and register them with the target group. Register the existing EC2 instance with the target group. Pass all application traffic through the NLB.
D. Back up the existing EC2 instance to an Amazon Machine Image (AMI). Create additional clones of the EC2 instance from the AMI in the same Availability Zone where the existing EC2 instance is located.

Answer

A. Create a cluster placement group. Back up the existing EC2 instance to an Amazon Machine Image (AMI). Restore the EC2 instance from the AMI into the placement group. Launch the additional EC2 instances into the placement group.

Explanation

The correct answer is A. Create a cluster placement group. Back up the existing EC2 instance to an Amazon Machine Image (AMI). Restore the EC2 instance from the AMI into the placement group. Launch the additional EC2 instances into the placement group.

A cluster placement group is a logical grouping of instances within a single Availability Zone. A cluster placement group can span peered VPCs in the same Region. Instances in the same cluster placement group enjoy a higher per-flow throughput limit for TCP/IP traffic and are placed in the same high-bisection bandwidth segment of the network. Cluster placement groups are recommended for applications that benefit from low network latency, high network throughput, or both. They are also recommended when the majority of the network traffic is between the instances in the group.

To create a cluster placement group, you need to specify a name and a strategy of cluster when you create the placement group. You can use the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, or the AWS SDKs to create a placement group.

To launch an instance into a cluster placement group, you need to specify an instance type that supports enhanced networking. Enhanced networking provides higher bandwidth, higher packet-per-second performance, and lower latency for your instances. You also need to specify the name of the placement group when you launch the instance. You can use the same methods as above to launch an instance into a placement group.

To move an existing instance into a cluster placement group, you need to create an AMI from the existing instance, and then launch a new instance from the AMI into the placement group. You cannot change the placement group of a running instance or an instance that has been stopped and started.

The other options are not correct because:

  • B. Back up the existing EC2 instance to an Amazon Machine Image (AMI). Create a launch template from the existing EC2 instance by specifying the AMI. Create an Auto Scaling group and configure the desired instance count: This option is not correct because it does not use a cluster placement group to ensure high-speed and low-latency communication between the instances. Auto Scaling groups are used to automatically adjust the number of instances based on demand or schedule, but they do not guarantee that the instances are placed close together on the underlying hardware.
  • C. Create a Network Load Balancer (NLB) and a target group. Launch the new EC2 instances and register them with the target group. Register the existing EC2 instance with the target group. Pass all application traffic through the NLB: This option is not correct because it does not use a cluster placement group to ensure high-speed and low-latency communication between the instances. NLBs are used to distribute incoming traffic across multiple targets, such as EC2 instances, in multiple Availability Zones. However, they do not influence how the instances are placed on the underlying hardware or how they communicate with each other.
  • D. Back up the existing EC2 instance to an Amazon Machine Image (AMI). Create additional clones of the EC2 instance from the AMI in the same Availability Zone where the existing EC2 instance is located: This option is not correct because it does not use a cluster placement group to ensure high-speed and low-latency communication between the instances. Creating clones of an EC2 instance from an AMI does not guarantee that they are placed close together on the underlying hardware. Moreover, this option does not specify an instance type that supports enhanced networking.

Reference

Amazon AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate certification exam practice question and answer (Q&A) dump with detail explanation and reference available free, helpful to pass the Amazon AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate exam and earn Amazon AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate certification.