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SAP-C02: Reduce DynamoDB Costs with DAX, Auto Scaling, and Savings Plans

Learn how to optimize DynamoDB costs for bursty read workloads and daily data ingestion by leveraging DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX), auto scaling, and AWS Savings Plans.

Table of Contents

Question

A financial services company loaded millions of historical stock trades into an Amazon DynamoDB table. The table uses on-demand capacity mode. Once each day at midnight, a few million new records are loaded into the table. Application read activity against the table happens in bursts throughout the day. and a limited set of keys are repeatedly looked up. The company needs to reduce costs associated with DynamoDB.

Which strategy should a solutions architect recommend to meet this requirement?

A. Deploy an Amazon ElastiCache cluster in front of the DynamoDB table
B. Deploy DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX). Configure DynamoDB auto scaling. Purchase Savings Plans in Cost Explorer.
C. Use provisioned capacity mode. Purchase Savings Plans in Cost Explorer.
D. Deploy DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX). Use provisioned capacity mode. Configure DynamoDB auto scaling.

Answer

B. Deploy DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX). Configure DynamoDB auto scaling. Purchase Savings Plans in Cost Explorer.

Explanation

The strategy a solutions architect should recommend to reduce costs associated with DynamoDB in this scenario is:

B. Deploy DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX). Configure DynamoDB auto scaling. Purchase Savings Plans in Cost Explorer.

This strategy combines three different approaches to optimize costs for the given workload:

  1. Deploy DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX): DAX is a fully managed, clustered in-memory cache for DynamoDB that provides fast read performance with sub-millisecond latency. Since the application read activity against the DynamoDB table happens in bursts and a limited set of keys are repeatedly looked up, deploying DAX can significantly reduce the read traffic to DynamoDB, thereby reducing costs.
  2. Configure DynamoDB Auto Scaling: DynamoDB auto scaling automatically adjusts the provisioned read and write capacity based on the actual workload. Since there is a daily burst of write activity when millions of new records are loaded into the table, auto scaling can scale up the provisioned capacity during this period and scale down when the load decreases. This ensures that the company only pays for the capacity they need, optimizing costs.
  3. Purchase Savings Plans in Cost Explorer: AWS Savings Plans are a pricing model that provides discounts for committing to a consistent amount of compute usage over a 1-year or 3-year term. By purchasing Savings Plans in Cost Explorer, the company can benefit from discounted rates for their DynamoDB usage, further reducing costs.

By deploying DAX, the company can reduce the read traffic to DynamoDB and leverage the caching benefits of DAX, which can significantly reduce costs. Configuring auto scaling ensures that the provisioned capacity is adjusted based on the actual workload, avoiding over-provisioning and reducing costs. Finally, purchasing Savings Plans provides discounted rates, further optimizing costs for the company’s DynamoDB usage.

Amazon AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional SAP-C02 certification exam practice question and answer (Q&A) dump with detail explanation and reference available free, helpful to pass the Amazon AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional SAP-C02 exam and earn Amazon AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional SAP-C02 certification.