AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03)Design High-Performing ArchitecturesMedium
A startup is launching a new mobile application that expects rapid, unpredictable growth in user traffic. The application uses a relational database. The database must be highly available, fault-tolerant, and scale seamlessly to handle sudden surges in demand without manual intervention, while optimizing costs during low traffic periods. Which AWS database solution meets these requirements?
- AAmazon Redshift with a fixed cluster size.
- BAmazon Aurora Serverless v2 with auto-scaling.
- CAmazon DynamoDB with on-demand capacity.
- DAmazon RDS for MySQL with Multi-AZ deployment and manual scaling.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: B. Amazon Aurora Serverless v2 with auto-scaling.
Amazon Aurora Serverless v2 is specifically designed for unpredictable, spiky workloads, offering immediate scaling up and down to handle varying transaction rates. It is highly available, fault-tolerant, and cost-optimized as you only pay for consumed capacity, making it ideal for a rapidly growing mobile app with a relational database.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Redshift is a data warehouse for analytics, not an OLTP relational database for a mobile application backend, and a fixed cluster size won't handle unpredictable growth.
- C. DynamoDB is a NoSQL database. While it offers on-demand capacity, the question specifies a 'relational database' and migrating to NoSQL requires significant re-architecture.
- D. Manual scaling for RDS MySQL is not suitable for 'unpredictable growth' and 'sudden surges' without intervention. Multi-AZ provides HA but not seamless scaling.
Amazon Aurora Serverless v2
Amazon Aurora Serverless v2 is an on-demand, auto-scaling configuration for Amazon Aurora that scales compute and memory capacity instantly and automatically, paying only for the capacity consumed.
- Designed for highly variable, unpredictable workloads.
- Scales compute and memory in fine-grained increments.
- Provides immediate scaling (milliseconds).
- Cost-effective by paying only for capacity used.
- Compatible with MySQL and PostgreSQL Aurora engines.
Memory trick: Aurora Serverless v2 grows and shrinks like a mobile app's user base.