Improving EBS Storage Performance with LVM Striping
Short answer
A Add more Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1) EBS volumes and use OS commands to create a Logical Volume Management (LVM) stripe.
Question
Key Takeaways
It tests the knowledge that io1 volumes are capped at 64,000 IOPS per volume and that adding more volumes with LVM is the correct architectural pattern for higher throughput.
This question addresses how to overcome the IOPS cap of a single Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1) EBS volume by using Logical Volume Management (LVM) striping across multiple volumes to aggregate performance.
Common mistake: Many candidates incorrectly choose Option B, mistakenly believing that increasing the provisioned IOPS on a single volume beyond 64,000 is possible or that it bypasses the limit.
Expert Analysis
Why the Answer Is Correct
The maximum IOPS for a single Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1) volume is hard-capped at 64,000 IOPS when attached to an EC2 instance. Since the current workload requires more than this limit to match on-premises performance, you must aggregate storage capacity. By adding more io1 volumes and configuring them as a stripe using Logical Volume Management (LVM), you can sum their individual IOPS capabilities (e.g., two 64k volumes provide 128k IOPS), thereby solving the bottleneck.
Why the Other Options Are Wrong
Option B is incorrect because you cannot increase the IOPS beyond the 64,000 limit on a single io1 volume; AWS enforces this strict ceiling regardless of the price you are willing to pay. Option C is incorrect because increasing the volume size only improves baseline throughput (3 IOPS per GB), which is negligible compared to the 64,000 IOPS already provisioned and does not help exceed the cap. Option D is incorrect because changing the instance type does not resolve the underlying EBS volume limitation, and storage-optimized instances are designed for specific local NVMe workloads rather than network EBS scaling.
Community Comment Notes
Community consensus strongly supports Option A, citing the hard limit of 64,000 IOPS per volume. As user LeonSauveterre noted, "The maximum IOPS for an io1 volume is capped at 64,000 IOPS..." Users frequently reference official AWS documentation regarding SQL Server best practices on EC2, which explicitly recommend LVM striping for high-performance databases exceeding single-volume limits.
Official Reference
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ebs-volume-types.html
This link opens the official vendor documentation in a new tab.
Exam Strategy
Always check the service-specific limits in the exam questions. For EBS, memorize that io1/io2 have a 64,000 IOPS cap per volume. If a question implies needing more than that, look for solutions involving multiple volumes (striping/mirroring) rather than trying to scale a single volume beyond its defined technical constraint.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why can't I just increase the IOPS on the single volume?
Does LVM striping affect data redundancy?
Community Votes
100% of anonymous learners picked answer A. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.
Discussion 6 contributions
Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.
From public community threads 6
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pujithacg8 👍 4A is correct, The maximum provisioned IOPS for io1 is 64000 and hence you can achieve higher aggregate performance by adding more io1 volumes
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LeonSauveterre 👍 2 Answered AA - For example, given two io1 volumes, each provisioned with 64,000 IOPS, would provide a combined 128,000 IOPS. B - The maximum IOPS for an io1 volume is capped at 64,000 IOPS when attached to an EC2 instance. C - While increasing the size of the volume increases baseline throughput (3 IOPS per GB), it won’t exceed the 64,000 IOPS limit. D - Storage optimized instances (like i3 or i4i) use instance store volumes, which are ephemeral (non-persistent) and cannot be used as a replacement for durable EBS volumes in this use case. What is the deal with LVM striping? LVM striping allows multiple volumes to be treated as a single logical volume. Reads and writes are distributed across the striped volumes, effectively increasing the available IOPS and throughput beyond the single-volume limits.
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elmyth 👍 2 Answered AIncrease the Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1) EBS volume to more than 64,000 IOPS.
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JA2018 👍 1 Answered Bwhy I would choose Option B: - Issue: The problem is that the current IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) provisioned on the EBS volume are not sufficient to meet the database workload demands, leading to slower performance compared to the on-premises setup. - Solution: Since the bottleneck is clearly identified as inadequate IOPS, the most effective solution is to simply increase the provisioned IOPS on the existing EBS volume, allowing for faster data read/write operations.
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FlyingHawk 👍 1 Answered Ahttps://docs.aws.amazon.com/prescriptive-guidance/latest/sql-server-ec2-best-practices/striping.html
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jingen11 👍 2 Answered AA
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