Amazon Web Services Updated CLF-C02 Exam Questions and Answers by wiktor

This is the AWS service or resource that will meet the requirements of distributing traffic between the Amazon EC2 instances that host the website. Application Load Balancer is a type of Elastic Load Balancing that distributes incoming application traffic across multiple targets, such as Amazon EC2 instances, containers, IP addresses, and Lambda functions. Application Load Balancer operates at the application layer (layer 7) of the OSI model and supports advanced features such as path-based routing, host-based routing, health checks, and SSL termination. You can learn more about Application Load Balancer from [this webpage] or [this digital course].

Amazon EC2 is the AWS service that the company should use to meet its requirements of retaining full control of patch management for the guest operating systems that host its applications. Amazon EC2 is a service that provides secure, resizable compute capacity in the cloud. Users can launch virtual servers, called instances, that run various operating systems, such as Linux, Windows, macOS, and more. Users have full administrative access to their instances and can install and configure any software, including patches and updates, on their instances. Users are responsible for managing the security and maintenance of their instances, including patching the guest operating system and applications. Users can also use AWS Systems Manager to automate and simplify the patching process for their EC2 instances. AWS Systems Manager is a service that helps users manage their AWS and on-premises resources at scale. Users can use AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager to scan their instances for missing patches, define patch baselines and maintenance windows, and apply patches automatically or manually across their instances. Users can also use AWS Systems Manager to monitor the patch compliance status and patching history of their instances. References: What is Amazon EC2?, AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager

Understanding Operational Excellence: The Operational Excellence pillar of the AWS Well-Architected Framework focuses on running and monitoring systems to deliver business value and continuously improving supporting processes and procedures.

Key Concepts of Operational Excellence:

Small, Reversible Changes: Making changes in small, incremental steps allows for easier troubleshooting and rollback if issues arise.

Regular Updates: Regularly updating components ensures that systems stay up-to-date with the latest features, security patches, and performance improvements.

Automation: Implementing automation for deployments, updates, and monitoring to reduce human error and increase efficiency.

Continuous Improvement: Encouraging continuous learning and process improvement to enhance operational processes.

Implementing Operational Excellence:

Deployment Automation: Use CI/CD pipelines to automate deployments and ensure that changes can be rolled back if necessary.

Monitoring and Logging: Implement comprehensive monitoring and logging to track system health and performance.

Incident Response: Develop a robust incident response plan to handle issues quickly and efficiently.

Documentation and Training: Maintain thorough documentation and provide training to ensure teams can effectively manage and improve operations.

References:

AWS Well-Architected Framework: Operational Excellence Pillar

According to security best practices, the best way to give an Amazon EC2 instance access to an Amazon S3 bucket is to have the EC2 instance assume a role to obtain the privileges to upload the file. A role is an AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) entity that defines a set of permissions for making AWS service requests. You can use roles to delegate access to users, applications, or services that don’t normally have access to your AWS resources. For example, you can create a role that allows EC2 instances to access S3 buckets, and then attach the role to the EC2 instance. This way, the EC2 instance can assume the role and obtain temporary security credentials to access the S3 bucket. This method is more secure and scalable than storing or hardcoding IAM user credentials on the EC2 instance, as it avoids the risk of exposing or compromising the credentials. It also allows you to manage the permissions centrally and dynamically, and to audit the access using AWS CloudTrail. For more information on how to create and use roles for EC2 instances, see Using an IAM role to grant permissions to applications running on Amazon EC2 instances1

The other options are not recommended for security reasons. Hardcoding or storing IAM user credentials on the EC2 instance is a bad practice, as it exposes the credentials to potential attackers or unauthorized users who can access the instance or the application code. It also makes it difficult to rotate or revoke the credentials, and to track the usage of the credentials. Modifying the S3 bucket policy to allow any service to upload to it at any time is also a bad practice, as it opens the bucket to potential data breaches, data loss, or data corruption. It also violates the principle of least privilege, which states that you should grant only the minimum permissions necessary for a task.

References: Using an IAM role to grant permissions to applications running on Amazon EC2 instances