Questions 22 to 24

Explanations for questions 22 to 24

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Question 22

A High-Performance Computing (HPC) application needs storage that can provide 135,000 IOPS. The storage layer is replicated across all instances in a cluster.

What is the optimal storage solution that provides the required performance and is cost-effective?

  1. Use Amazon EBS Provisioned IOPS volume with 135,000 IOPS.
  2. Use Amazon Instance Store.
  3. Use Amazon S3 with byte-range fetch.
  4. Use Amazon EC2 Enhanced Networking with an EBS HDD Throughput Optimized volume.

Correct Answer: 2

Explanation: Instance stores offer very high performance and low latency. As long as you can afford to lose an instance, i.e., you are replicating your data, these can be a good solution for high performance/low latency requirements. Also, the cost of instance stores is included in the instance charges, so it can also be more cost-effective than EBS Provisioned IOPS.

INCORRECT:Use Amazon EBS Provisioned IOPS volume with 135,000 IOPS.” is incorrect. In the case of an HPC cluster that replicates data between nodes, you don’t necessarily need a shared storage solution such as Amazon EBS Provisioned IOPS. It would also be a more expensive solution as the Instance Store is included in the cost of the HPC instance.

CORRECT: “Use Amazon Instance Store.” is the correct answer.

INCORRECT:Use Amazon S3 with byte-range fetch.” is incorrect. Amazon S3 is not a solution for this HPC application as in this case it will require block-based storage to provide the required IOPS.

INCORRECT:Use Amazon EC2 Enhanced Networking with an EBS HDD Throughput Optimized volume.” is incorrect… Enhanced networking provides higher bandwidth and lower latency and is implemented using an Elastic Network Adapter (ENA). However, using an ENA with an HDD Throughput Optimized volume is not recommended, and the volume will not provide the performance required for this use case.

References:

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/InstanceStorage.html

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