ShoaibQ | December 16, 2022
Top AWS Solutions Architect Interview Questions and Answers 2023
An AWS Solutions Architect’s role is to design and implement solutions on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. There is already a high demand for solutions architects whether AWS: certified, or Google and Microsoft Azure: certified. This has given motivation to many aspirants to get certified as a solutions architect and land the cloud’s highest-paying role-based job.
However, the step that comes next after getting your certification as an AWS Solutions Architect, is the interview. In this article, we will go through some of the most asked interview questions.
Top 10 Most Asked AWS Solutions Architect Interview Questions and Answers in 2023
- What is the Main Difference Between Terminating and Stopping an Instance?
AWS has EC2 instances. When you terminate an instance it is transferred to a stopped state. In addition, the EBS volumes attached are also permanently deleted. On the other hand, stopping an EC2 instance means that a normal shutdown has been performed and you can start it at a later time. Here’s a diagrammatical representation to give you an idea:
- What is the Difference Between a Spot Instance and an On-Demand instance?
On AWS, On-Demand instances refer to the virtual servers in the EC2. These are used while performing tests and developing apps on the EC2. As for Spot instances, they are unused computing capacity blocks. These are released by AWS at the time an EC2 instance is created.
- What is Cloud Computing? Can You Compare any Two Popular Cloud Service Providers?
The simplest definition of cloud computing is that it is the practice that involves the utilization of a network of remote services hosted on the internet. You can use cloud computing to store, manage, and process data. This omits the expense and hassle of having a local server or personal computer.
| Parameters | Amazon Web Services | Google Cloud |
| What is? | Secure cloud service developed and managed by Amazon. | The suite of Google’s public cloud computing services and products. |
| Initiation | March 3, 2006, | April 7, 2008, |
| Best Feature | Largest market share by offering the widest range of cloud-based services and products. | GCP specializes in high compute offerings. For instance, Big Data. |
| Pricing | Per Hour Basis | Per Minute Basis |
| Cost | Comparatively expensive in terms of storage and compute costs. | Competitive pricing and more affordable than AWS. |
| Object Storing | AWS S3 | Google Cloud Storage |
| VM Disk Storage | Amazon EBS | Persistent Disks |
- What is Amazon EC2 on AWS?
EC2 is the abbreviation for “Elastic Compute Cloud”. EC2 provides stable and scalable computing capacity in the AWS cloud. Customers use EC2 to eliminate the costs for hardware upfront. This enables them to develop and deploy applications much faster.
- What is Amazon S3 on AWS?
S3 is the storage on AWS, an abbreviation for “Simple Storage Service”. Currently the most supported storage platform on AWS, it is an object storage that can store and retrieve any volume of data from any location. Moreover, S3 is practically unlimited and offers the most cost-effective solution, as it is based on “available on demand”. The practical use for S3 is to manage data to optimize costs, access control, and finally compliance.
- Can You Use S3 with EC2?
Yes, we can use AWS S3 for EC2 instances with root devices. These root devices are backed by local instance storage. This gives developers access to a highly cost-effective, fast, scalable, and reliable data storage infrastructure on Amazon cloud. Since Amazon itself uses this infrastructure to run its global network of websites, there is no compromise on reliability. To execute systems in the EC2 environment, AMI (Amazon Machine Images) need to be loaded into the S3 and then moved between S3 and EC2.
- What is an Amazon Machine Image (AMI)?
The AMIs are simply templates that offer the required information to launch a virtual machine or an instance. Furthermore, it is possible to select pre-built AMIs that are already available while creating an instance. The most common reason to have customized AMI is to save space on AWS.
- Is it Possible to Use Amazon Cloud Front in Directing Transfer Objects?
The simple answer – is yes, the amazon cloud front servers help in supporting the origins of the custom. It can also include origins that come from outside of Amazon Web Services.
- What is Required to Move Data Over Long Distances Using the Internet? For instance, Across Countries or Continents to S3 Bucket. Which Method or Service is used for this?
Firstly, you cannot use Snowball because it does not offer support for cross-region data transfer. The available options are
- Amazon Transfer Acceleration
- Amazon CloudFront
- Amazon Glacier
From the three, Amazon Transfer Acceleration is the most suitable option as it throttles data transfer by utilizing optimized network paths and Amazon’s CDN up to 300% (in comparison to normal data transfer speed).
- What is Hypervisor?
A hypervisor can be defined as software that serves the purpose of creating and running virtual machines. Hypervisor helps to integrate physical hardware resources that are virtually distributed to each user into a single platform.
Takeaway
An AWS Solution Architect is an expert in implementing cloud solutions over Amazon cloud. The aforementioned interview questions were selected concisely to help you get an overview of what parts of AWS will you be interacting with. However, you must acquire the necessary knowledge by taking help from resources such as courses, online quizzes, and exams, and finally, get your Amazon Solutions Architect certification.