SOA-C02: What should SysOps do to review Amazon EBS volumes associated with EC2 instances and create cost optimization recommendations in the MOST operationally efficient way

Table of Contents

Question
Answer
Explanation
Reference

Question

A company has users that deploy Amazon EC2 instances that have more disk performance capacity than is required. A SysOps administrator needs to review all Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) volumes that are associated with the instances and create cost optimization recommendations based on IOPS and throughput. What should the SysOps administrator do to meet these requirements in the MOST operationally efficient way?

A. Use the monitoring graphs in the EC2 console to view metrics for EBS volumes. Review the consumed space against the provisioned space on each volume. Identify any volumes that have low utilization.
B. Stop the EC2 instances from the EC2 console. Change the EC2 instance type for Amazon EBS-optimized. Start the EC2 instances.
C. Opt in to AWS Compute Optimizer. Allow sufficient time for metrics to be gathered. Review the Compute Optimizer findings for EBS volumes.
D. Install the fio tool onto the EC2 instances and create a .cfg file to approximate the required workloads. Use the benchmark results to gauge whether the provisioned EBS volumes are of the most appropriate type.

Answer

C. Opt in to AWS Compute Optimizer. Allow sufficient time for metrics to be gathered. Review the Compute Optimizer findings for EBS volumes.

Explanation

The correct answer is C. Opt in to AWS Compute Optimizer. Allow sufficient time for metrics to be gathered. Review the Compute Optimizer findings for EBS volumes.

AWS Compute Optimizer is a service that helps you optimize your AWS compute resources, such as EC2 instances, EBS volumes, Lambda functions, and Auto Scaling groups. Compute Optimizer analyzes your historical utilization metrics and provides recommendations for optimal configuration and performance of your resources. You can use Compute Optimizer to reduce costs, improve performance, and increase reliability of your workloads.

To use Compute Optimizer, you need to opt in to the service from the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, or AWS SDKs. You also need to ensure that you have sufficient permissions and that you have enabled the required AWS services and features, such as CloudWatch, AWS Systems Manager, and AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). Once you opt in, Compute Optimizer will start collecting and analyzing your metrics for up to 14 days before generating recommendations. You can then view the recommendations from the Compute Optimizer console or API.

To review the recommendations for EBS volumes, you can select the EBS volumes option from the navigation pane in the Compute Optimizer console. You can then see a list of your EBS volumes and their current configuration, performance, and utilization. You can also see the recommended volume type and size for each volume, as well as the expected performance improvement and cost difference. You can filter, sort, or export the recommendations based on various criteria, such as volume ID, account ID, Region, or finding. You can also view detailed information about each volume and its recommendation by selecting it from the list.

By using this solution, you can review all EBS volumes that are associated with the EC2 instances and create cost optimization recommendations based on IOPS and throughput. This solution meets the requirements of the company, as it allows them to identify any volumes that have more disk performance capacity than is required, and to choose the most appropriate volume type and size for their workloads. This solution is also the most operationally efficient one, as it does not require them to write any custom code or use any additional tools. It also leverages the existing functionality and scalability of AWS Compute Optimizer.

The other options are not correct for the following reasons:

This option is not operationally efficient, as it requires them to manually view and compare the metrics for each EBS volume in the EC2 console. It also does not provide any recommendations for optimal volume type and size based on IOPS and throughput. It only provides information about the consumed space versus the provisioned space on each volume.

B. Stop the EC2 instances from the EC2 console. Change the EC2 instance type for Amazon EBS-optimized. Start the EC2 instances.

This option is not correct, as it does not address the issue of EBS volume optimization. It only changes the EC2 instance type for EBS-optimized, which means that the instance can fully utilize the IOPS provisioned on an EBS volume. However, this does not guarantee that the EBS volume has the optimal type and size for the workload.

D. Install the fio tool onto the EC2 instances and create a .cfg file to approximate the required workloads. Use the benchmark results to gauge whether the provisioned EBS volumes are of the most appropriate type.

This option is not operationally efficient, as it requires them to install and configure a third-party tool on each EC2 instance that will perform the benchmark tests. It also does not provide any recommendations for optimal volume type and size based on IOPS and throughput. It only provides information about the performance of each EBS volume under different workloads.

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.