Amazon Web Services Updated SAP-C02 Exam Questions and Answers by byron

The data scientists’ EC2 instances in a separate account must access S3 data in a controlled way that satisfies the policy: only authorized networks may access the IoT data. “Authorized networks” in this context means traffic must originate from approved VPCs and must not traverse the public internet.

First, traffic from the EC2 instances to S3 must stay on the AWS network without using public endpoints. A gateway VPC endpoint for S3 in the data scientists’ VPC (option A) allows EC2 instances in that VPC to reach S3 over private connectivity. When using a gateway VPC endpoint, the route tables of the subnets associated with the endpoint automatically route S3 traffic through the endpoint. This ensures that access to S3 is from an authorized network (the VPC) instead of from the public internet.

Second, access must be constrained such that only calls made through the intended S3 access mechanism are allowed. The data lake bucket already has an S3 access point. S3 access points can be restricted by policy and can be referenced in bucket policies through the s3:DataAccessPointArn condition key. By using an S3 bucket policy that allows s3:GetObject only when s3:DataAccessPointArn matches the expected access point ARN (option E), the company can enforce that all valid access uses the approved access point configuration. Combined with the access point’s own network configuration and the VPC endpoint, access is limited to authorized networks.

Option B, blocking public access on the access point, is a good general security practice but does not by itself guarantee that access is restricted to authorized VPC networks. The main enforcement must be through VPC endpoints and bucket/access point policies.

Option C denies s3:GetObject when s3:DataAccessPointArn is a valid access point ARN, which is the opposite of what is required. This would prevent intended access via the access point rather than allow it.

Option D is not correct because gateway VPC endpoints for S3 are configured via endpoint associations with route tables, not by directly routing to an access point in the route table. Traffic to S3 is routed to the VPC endpoint, and the endpoint plus S3 policies determine access.

Therefore, creating a gateway VPC endpoint for S3 in the data scientists’ VPC (option A) and using a bucket policy condition on s3:DataAccessPointArn to allow access only through the authorized access point (option E) together meet the requirement of secure, network-restricted access from authorized networks.

The company should purchase the same Reserved Instances for an additional 3-year term with All Upfront payment. The company should purchase a 3-year Compute Savings Plan with All Upfront payment in the management account to cover any additional compute costs. This solution will provide the company with the most cost savings because Reserved Instances and Savings Plans are both pricing models that offer significant discounts compared to On-Demand pricing. Reserved Instances are commitments to use a specific instance type and size in a single Region for a one- or three-year term. You can choose between three payment options: No Upfront, Partial Upfront, or All Upfront. The more you pay upfront, the greater the discount1. Savings Plans are flexible pricing models that offer low prices on EC2 instances, Fargate, and Lambda usage, in exchange for a commitment to a consistent amount of usage (measured in $/hour) for a one- or three-year term. You can choose between two types of Savings Plans: Compute Savings Plans and EC2 Instance Savings Plans. Compute Savings Plans apply to any EC2 instance regardless of Region, instance family, operating system, or tenancy, including those that are part of EMR, ECS, or EKS clusters, or launched by Fargate or Lambda. EC2 Instance Savings Plans apply to a specific instance family within a Region and provide the most savings2. By purchasing the same Reserved Instances for an additional 3-year term with All Upfront payment, the company can lock in the lowest possible price for its EC2 instances that run continuously for 3 years. By purchasing a 3-year Compute Savings Plan with All Upfront payment in the management account, the company can benefit from additional discounts on any other compute usage across its member accounts.

The other options are not correct because:

Purchasing a 1-year Compute Savings Plan with No Upfront payment in each member account would not provide as much cost savings as purchasing a 3-year Compute Savings Plan with All Upfront payment in the management account. A 1-year term offers lower discounts than a 3-year term, and a No Upfront payment option offers lower discounts than an All Upfront payment option. Also, purchasing a Savings Plan in each member account would not allow the company to share the benefits of unused Savings Plan discounts across its organization.

Purchasing a 3-year EC2 Instance Savings Plan with No Upfront payment in the management account to cover EC2 costs in each AWS Region would not provide as much cost savings as purchasing Reserved Instances for an additional 3-year term with All Upfront payment. An EC2 Instance Savings Plan offers lower discounts than Reserved Instances for the same instance family and Region. Also, a No Upfront payment option offers lower discounts than an All Upfront payment option.

Purchasing a 3-year EC2 Instance Savings Plan with All Upfront payment in each member account would not provide as much flexibility or cost savings as purchasing a 3-year Compute Savings Plan with All Upfront payment in the management account. An EC2 Instance Savings Plan applies only to a specific instance family within a Region and does not cover Fargate or Lambda usage. Also, purchasing aSavings Plan in each member account would not allow the company to share the benefits of unused Savings Plan discounts across its organization.

The correct answer is A, D, and F. Existing AWS accounts can be invited into an AWS Organizations organization, and SCPs are the correct organization-level mechanism to enforce preventive controls such as required tagging. Because OUs contain accounts, not individual EC2 instances, development workloads must be recreated or migrated into an account that is placed under the development OU. Amazon Inspector is the correct service for automated EC2 vulnerability scanning, and Security Hub can aggregate and centralize findings across an organization. For patching, AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager can be managed across an organization through delegated administration and organization-wide patch policies, which reduces operational overhead compared with configuring each account separately. Trusted Advisor is not the right vulnerability scanning service, and configuring Patch Manager separately in every account creates unnecessary administration.

Option B effectively addresses the disaster recovery requirements:

Creating a new backup vault in both the source and recovery accounts allows for organized and secure storage of backups.

Using a multi-Region customer managed KMS key ensures that the backups are encrypted at all times and can be decrypted in the recovery account, maintaining data security during cross-account and cross-Region transfers.

Redirecting backups to the new backup vault in the source account and configuring a key policy to allow access from the recovery account facilitates seamless and secure backup copying.

Scheduling a cross-account backup plan enables automated and regular copying of backups to the recovery account, ensuring that the DR plan is consistently maintained.

This approach ensures that backups are securely and efficiently replicated to the recovery account in a different Region, aligning with the company ' s DR requirements.