AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)Cloud Technology and ServicesMedium
A financial application performs a large volume of small, random read/write operations against an EBS-backed database and requires consistently high IOPS with low latency. Which EBS volume type should be used?
- AProvisioned IOPS SSD (io2)
- BCold HDD (sc1)
- CThroughput Optimized HDD (st1)
- DGeneral Purpose SSD (gp3)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Provisioned IOPS SSD (io2)
Provisioned IOPS SSD (io2) volumes are designed for I/O-intensive workloads such as large relational or NoSQL databases that require sustained high IOPS and low latency, supporting up to 256,000 IOPS per volume.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. sc1 is the lowest-cost HDD option for infrequently accessed data, unsuitable for high-performance databases.
- C. st1 is optimized for large, sequential throughput workloads like big data, not random small I/O.
- D. gp3 offers good baseline performance but is not optimized for the highest, most consistent IOPS demands.
EBS Provisioned IOPS SSD (io2)
An EBS volume type designed for I/O-intensive workloads requiring sustained high IOPS and low latency.
- Supports up to 256,000 IOPS per volume
- Ideal for critical relational/NoSQL databases
- io2 Block Express offers even higher performance and durability
Memory trick: 'io' stands for I/O intensity — pick io2 for demanding databases.