Amazon Web Services Updated SAA-C03 Exam Questions and Answers by teddy-james

Requirement Analysis: Need secure, direct connectivity from an on-premises client to an RDS cluster, accessible only when in the office.

VPC with Private Subnets: Ensures the RDS cluster is not publicly accessible, enhancing security.

Site-to-Site VPN: Provides secure, encrypted connection between on-premises office and AWS VPC.

Implementation:

Create a VPC with two private subnets.

Launch the RDS cluster in the private subnets.

Set up a Site-to-Site VPN connection with a customer gateway in the office.

Conclusion: This setup ensures secure and direct connectivity with minimal exposure, meeting the requirement for secure access from the office.

References

AWS Site-to-Site VPN:AWS Site-to-Site VPN Documentation

Amazon RDS:Amazon RDS Documentation

This solution meets the requirements of providing encryption at both the network and session layers while also allowing for controlled access between on-premises systems and AWS resources.

AWS Site-to-Site VPN: This service allows you to establish a secure and encrypted connection between your on-premises network and AWS VPC over the internet or via AWS Direct Connect. The VPN encrypts data at the network layer (IPsec) as it travels between the corporate network and AWS.

Routing and Security Controls: By configuring route table entries, you can ensure that only the traffic intended for AWS resources is directed to the VPC. Additionally, by setting up security groups and network ACLs, you can further restrict and control which traffic is allowed to communicate with the instances within your VPC. This approach provides the necessary security to prevent unrestricted access, aligning with the company’s security policies.

Why Not Other Options?:

Option A (AWS Direct Connect): While Direct Connect provides a private connection, it does not inherently provide encryption. Additional steps would be required to encrypt traffic, and it doesn’t address the session layer encryption.

Option B (IAM policies for Console access): This option does not meet the requirement for network-level encryption and security between the corporate network and the VPC.

Option D (AWS Transit Gateway): Although Transit Gateway can help in managing multiple connections, it doesn’t directly provide encryption at the network layer. You would still need to configure a VPN or use other methods for encryption.

AWS References:

AWS Site-to-Site VPN- Overview of AWS Site-to-Site VPN capabilities, including encryption.

Security Groups and Network ACLs- Information on configuring security groups and network ACLs to control traffic.

AWS Service Catalogallows organizations to centrally manage commonly deployed IT services and offers self-service deployment capabilities to customers. By creatingService Catalog products, the consulting company can package their solutions and tools for easy reuse by customers while maintaining central control over configuration and access. This provides a standardized and automated solution with the least operational overhead for managing and deploying solutions across different customers.

Option A (CloudFormation): CloudFormation templates are useful but don't provide the same level of management and user-friendly self-service capabilities as Service Catalog.

Option C (Systems Manager): Systems Manager is more focused on managing infrastructure and doesn't offer the same self-service capabilities.

Option D (AWS Config): AWS Config is used for tracking resource configurations, not for deploying solutions.

AWS References:

AWS Service Catalog

Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes are designed to deliver sub-millisecond latency and up to 256,000 IOPS per volume, with durability and high availability. This makes io2 Block Express the recommended choice for workloads requiring very high and predictable IOPS, such as enterprise databases and high-transaction-rate applications.

Reference Extract:

"EBS io2 Block Express volumes deliver up to 256,000 IOPS and sub-millisecond latency, supporting high-performance, high-durability workloads."

Source: AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Official Study Guide, EBS Performance section.