Cut ticketing platform cost with a gateway S3 endpoint and scheduled scaling
Short answer
AE Create a gateway VPC endpoint for S3 and replace the predictive scaling policy with scheduled scaling policies for known events.
Question
Key Takeaways
A gateway VPC endpoint for S3 removes both the NAT gateway data processing charge and the cross-AZ traffic for S3 requests, and because event schedules are already known, scheduled scaling policies size the capacity ahead of time instead of relying on a predictive policy that reacts to patterns.
An events ticketing platform runs on ECS over EC2 On-Demand instances in an Auto Scaling group with predictive scaling, and the cluster downloads ticket assets from an S3 bucket in the same Region through a NAT gateway. The dates and times of customer events are known in advance and availability must not decrease.
Common mistake: Adding a Spot capacity provider at the same weight as the existing On-Demand strategy. Spot instances can be reclaimed, so mixing them in without a base of On-Demand capacity can reduce availability during an event surge, which the requirement explicitly forbids.
Expert Analysis
Why the Answer Is Correct
The ECS cluster and the S3 bucket are in the same Region and account, so a gateway VPC endpoint for S3 lets the cluster reach S3 over the AWS network instead of through the NAT gateway. That eliminates the NAT gateway hourly and data processing charges on every asset download as well as any cross-Availability-Zone data transfer, and it reduces request latency, so availability is not reduced. Separately, the company knows the exact date and time of every customer event, so scheduled scaling policies can provision capacity ahead of each known surge, which is more accurate and cheaper than a predictive policy that must learn a pattern. Both changes are purely additive and neither reduces availability.
Why the Other Options Are Wrong
B: Adding a Spot capacity provider with the same weight as the On-Demand strategy means a large share of the capacity can be reclaimed during a peak event, so the platform could lose availability precisely when it is most needed. C: On-Demand Capacity Reservations commit to paying for a specific instance family over a window; for short, predictable, recurring event spikes they are more expensive than scheduled scaling and they do not address the NAT gateway cost. D: S3 Transfer Acceleration optimizes uploads and downloads over long distances to end users, and it adds a per-GB charge, so it is the wrong tool for intra-Region traffic that should simply bypass the NAT gateway.
Community Comment Notes
The community voted 91 to 0 for A and E, and the reasoning was that both steps attack the two named cost drivers directly, the NAT gateway path for the asset downloads and the reactive predictive policy for the known event schedule. One commenter paused on the last option, which is consistent with the same reasoning applied to the NAT gateway, but the vote and the reasoning both land on the gateway endpoint plus scheduled scaling pair.
Official Reference
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/privatelink/gateway-endpoints.html
This link opens the official vendor documentation in a new tab.
Community Votes
100% of anonymous learners picked answer AE. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.
Discussion 8 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 8
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0b43291 👍 7If you made it this far you will pass.. Good luck everyone! This is a great service.
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wbedair 👍 5Options A and E will meet the requirements most cost-effectively by leveraging the predictability of the workload of known customer events to optimize scaling operations and reducing data transfer costs
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kupo777 👍 3A For S3 communication in the same region, the communication fee is waived by using the gateway VPC endpoint. B Availability is reduced when spot instances are used. C Using on-demand capacity reservation increases costs. D Using S3 Transfer Acceleration increases costs. E Scheduled scaling policies allow resources to be used according to events. The answers are A and E.
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vip2 👍 2A: no charge for S3 access E: know details of date and time --- can scheduled for saving cost
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c22ddd8 👍 2Since it is scheduled event , E is correct ans
Show 3 more comments
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Chakanetsa 👍 1A. Create a gateway VPC endpoint for the S3 bucket: This will allow the ECS cluster to access the S3 bucket directly without the need for traffic to flow through the NAT gateway, reducing costs associated with NAT data transfer. B. Add another ECS capacity provider that uses an Auto Scaling group of Spot Instances: By introducing Spot Instances with the same weight as On-Demand Instances, the company can take advantage of the cost savings from Spot Instances while maintaining the ability to scale with On-Demand Instances when needed. These steps will reduce network traffic costs and take advantage of lower-cost compute options without compromising platform availability.
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AzureDP900 👍 1A,E By creating a gateway VPC endpoint for the S3 bucket (option A), you can reduce latency and improve performance by routing traffic directly through Amazon's network, rather than relying on the NAT gateway. And by replacing the predictive scaling policy with scheduled scaling policies for the scheduled events (option E), you can avoid scaling instances during low-traffic periods, which would reduce costs and prevent unnecessary charges.
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itsjunukim 👍 1Tomorrow is the exam. To everyone who has made it this far, good luck and do your best!
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