AWS Interview Questions: Advanced Level — Part 3

1. What is AWS Direct Connect?

AWS Direct Connect is a cloud service that establishes a dedicated network connection from your premises to AWS. Using AWS Direct Connect, you can create a private, high-bandwidth network link between your data center, office, or colocation environment and AWS. This direct connection can reduce network costs, increase bandwidth throughput, and provide a more consistent network experience than internet-based connections.

Example:

A company can use AWS Direct Connect to transfer large datasets between its on-premises environment and AWS S3, reducing transfer times and improving reliability.

2. Explain the use of AWS Lambda with AWS API Gateway.

AWS Lambda is a serverless compute service that allows you to run code without provisioning or managing servers. AWS API Gateway is a fully managed service that makes it easy to create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure APIs. When used together, API Gateway can act as a front door for your Lambda functions, enabling you to create RESTful APIs that trigger Lambda functions upon receiving HTTP requests.

Example:

You can create a Lambda function to process data and then use API Gateway to expose an endpoint that triggers this Lambda function whenever a specific API request is made.

3. What is the difference between AWS OpsWorks and AWS Elastic Beanstalk?

• AWS OpsWorks: A configuration management service that provides managed instances of Chef and Puppet, which are automation platforms that allow you to automate server configuration, deployment, and management across your Amazon EC2 instances or on-premises compute environments.
• AWS Elastic Beanstalk: An easy-to-use service for deploying and scaling web applications and services. It automatically handles the deployment, from capacity provisioning, load balancing, and auto-scaling to application health monitoring.

Example:

Use OpsWorks when you need a higher level of control over configuration management using Chef or Puppet. Use Elastic Beanstalk for quick deployment and management of web applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

4. How do you optimize costs in AWS?

To optimize costs in AWS, you can:

• Use Reserved Instances: Purchase reserved capacity for predictable workloads.
• Auto-scaling: Automatically scale your resources based on demand to avoid over-provisioning.
• Right-sizing: Regularly analyze your resource utilization and adjust instance sizes accordingly.
• Use Spot Instances: Take advantage of unused EC2 capacity at a reduced cost.
• Monitor and manage: Use AWS Cost Explorer and AWS Budgets to track and manage your spending.

5. What is AWS Global Accelerator?

AWS Global Accelerator is a service that improves the availability and performance of your applications with global users. It provides static IP addresses that act as a fixed entry point to your application endpoints, such as EC2 instances, Elastic Load Balancers, or S3 buckets, improving the performance and reliability of your applications by routing traffic to the nearest AWS region.

Example:

Use Global Accelerator to route traffic from users in different geographic locations to the nearest available endpoint, reducing latency and improving user experience.

6. Explain the concept of serverless architecture in AWS.

Serverless architecture allows you to build and run applications without managing infrastructure. AWS provides serverless services like AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon S3. In a serverless architecture, your application is divided into individual functions that are triggered by events and executed in a managed environment, allowing you to focus on code and business logic rather than infrastructure management.

Example:

A serverless web application can use API Gateway to handle HTTP requests, Lambda functions to process the requests, and DynamoDB to store application data.

7. How do you handle disaster recovery in AWS?

Disaster recovery in AWS involves strategies to ensure data protection and recovery in the event of a disaster. Techniques include:

• Backups: Regularly back up data using AWS services like S3, RDS, and EBS snapshots.
• Multi-region deployments: Deploy applications across multiple AWS regions to ensure high availability.
• Automated failover: Use Route 53 and ELB to automatically route traffic to healthy endpoints.
• Replication: Use services like RDS Read Replicas and DynamoDB global tables for cross-region replication.

8. What is Amazon Kinesis?

Amazon Kinesis is a platform on AWS to collect, process, and analyze real-time, streaming data. It consists of four services:

• Kinesis Data Streams: For building custom real-time applications.
• Kinesis Data Firehose: For loading streaming data into AWS data stores.
• Kinesis Data Analytics: For analyzing streaming data using SQL.
• Kinesis Video Streams: For securely streaming video from connected devices to AWS for analytics, machine learning, and other processing.

9. Explain the concept of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) in AWS.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is the practice of managing and provisioning computing infrastructure through machine-readable configuration files rather than physical hardware configuration or interactive configuration tools. In AWS, this is typically achieved using AWS CloudFormation or AWS CDK (Cloud Development Kit).

Example:

Use CloudFormation templates to define and provision AWS resources like EC2 instances, VPCs, and RDS databases in a consistent and repeatable manner.

10. How do you secure AWS environments?

To secure AWS environments, you can:

• Use IAM roles and policies: Implement the principle of least privilege.
• Enable MFA: Use multi-factor authentication for secure access.
• Encrypt data: Encrypt data at rest and in transit using AWS KMS and SSL/TLS.
• Monitor and log activities: Use CloudTrail and CloudWatch for logging and monitoring.
• Implement network security: Use security groups, Network ACLs, and VPCs to control traffic.

11. What is AWS Transit Gateway?

AWS Transit Gateway is a service that enables you to connect your Amazon VPCs and on-premises networks through a central hub. It simplifies network architecture by acting as a hub-and-spoke model, reducing the complexity and cost of managing multiple point-to-point connections.

Example:

A large organization can use Transit Gateway to connect multiple VPCs and on-premises networks across different regions, streamlining network management.

12. How do you use AWS Systems Manager?

AWS Systems Manager provides a unified interface to view and control your AWS resources. It helps automate operational tasks across AWS resources, such as patch management, inventory management, and configuration compliance.

Example:

Use Systems Manager to run commands on your EC2 instances, automate patching, and maintain a central inventory of your AWS resources.

13. What are AWS Step Functions?

AWS Step Functions is a serverless orchestration service that lets you coordinate multiple AWS services into serverless workflows. It allows you to design and run workflows that stitch together services such as Lambda, ECS, and SNS.

Example:

Use Step Functions to automate an order processing workflow that involves steps like validating the order, processing payment, and updating inventory.

14. Explain the use of AWS Config.

AWS Config is a service that enables you to assess, audit, and evaluate the configurations of your AWS resources. It continuously monitors and records your AWS resource configurations and allows you to automate the evaluation of recorded configurations against desired configurations.

Example:

Use AWS Config to track changes to security group rules and ensure they comply with your organization’s security policies.

15. How do you manage compliance in AWS?

Managing compliance in AWS involves using a combination of AWS services and best practices to meet regulatory requirements. Key strategies include:

• AWS Artifact: Access AWS compliance reports and agreements.
• AWS Config: Continuously monitor and record configuration changes.
• AWS CloudTrail: Record AWS API calls for auditing.
• IAM policies: Implement least privilege access control.
• Encryption: Use AWS KMS for data encryption.

In this article, we covered several advanced-level AWS interview questions, providing detailed answers and examples to help you better understand and prepare for your AWS-related interviews.

By mastering these advanced AWS concepts, you’ll be well-prepared to tackle any AWS-related challenge in your interviews or on the job. Continue to build on your AWS knowledge by reviewing the other parts of this series:

• AWS Interview Questions: Beginners Level — Part 1: Revisit the fundamentals to ensure you have a strong grasp on the basics.
• AWS Interview Questions: Intermediate Level — Part 2: Dive into more detailed concepts and bridge the gap between beginner and advanced levels.

Stay ahead in your career with a comprehensive understanding of AWS!