Preparing for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect (SAA-C03 / SAP-C02) or a senior Cloud Architect technical interview requires a deep understanding of cloud design patterns, high availability, disaster recovery, and cost efficiency. Below are 15 scenario-based questions and in-depth answers curated by AWS Principal Architects.
1. How do you design a Multi-Region Active-Active Disaster Recovery architecture on AWS?
To build an active-active cross-region system with near-zero RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective):
- DNS Routing: Use Amazon Route 53 with latency-based or geolocation routing combined with Route 53 Application Recovery Controller health checks.
- Database Layer: Deploy Amazon Aurora Global Databases or DynamoDB Global Tables for multi-region write replication under 1 second.
- Application Layer: Deploy ECS Fargate or Lambda in both Primary and Secondary regions behind Application Load Balancers.
2. What is the difference between S3 Standard, S3 Intelligent-Tiering, and Glacier Flexible Retrieval?
S3 Standard is designed for high-throughput, low-latency frequent access. S3 Intelligent-Tiering automatically moves data between frequent and infrequent access tiers without operational overhead based on access patterns. S3 Glacier is engineered for low-cost long-term archrivals where retrieval takes anywhere from minutes to hours.