Exams / SAP-C03 / Study guide / Hybrid and edge compute (Outposts, Local Zones, EKS and ECS Anywhere)
Hybrid and edge compute (Outposts, Local Zones, EKS and ECS Anywhere): SAP-C03 study notes and practice questions
What to know about Hybrid and edge compute (Outposts, Local Zones, EKS and ECS Anywhere) for the SAP-C03 exam, from the Architecture Design and Implementation Built for the Cloud domain (25% of the exam guide), then 1 free question to test it. Part of the SAP-C03 study guide.
SAP-C03 gives you a constraint (single-digit millisecond latency to a factory, data that must stay in a country or building, existing on-premises servers) and asks which hybrid or edge compute option meets it with consistent AWS tooling.
Options
Option
What it is
Fits
AWS Outposts racks
AWS-managed racks in your data center running EC2, EBS, ECS, EKS, RDS, S3 on Outposts and more
Low latency to on-premises systems, local data processing and residency, consistent AWS APIs
Outposts servers
1U or 2U servers for space-limited sites
Retail stores, branch offices, factory floors with small compute needs
Local Zones
AWS infrastructure in metro areas, extending a parent Region
Single-digit millisecond latency to end users in a city (media rendering, gaming, real-time apps) or in-country processing
ECS Anywhere
Register your own servers or VMs as ECS external instances
Run containers on existing hardware, managed from the ECS control plane
EKS Anywhere
Run and manage Kubernetes clusters on your own infrastructure, fully on premises
Kubernetes on premises, including disconnected environments
EKS Hybrid Nodes
On-premises nodes joined to an EKS cluster whose control plane runs in the Region
One managed control plane with workers in the data center
Facts that decide answers
Outposts need a reliable service link to the parent Region; the control plane stays in the Region. Plan for link loss: running instances continue, but control plane actions (launching new instances, API calls) need the link.
An Outpost appears as a subnet in a VPC from the parent Region; the local gateway connects it to the on-premises network.
Local Zones are opted in per account, show up as subnets in your VPC, and offer a subset of services. They’re not Wavelength (out of scope), which targets 5G carrier networks.
ECS Anywhere and EKS Hybrid Nodes need outbound connectivity to the Region; EKS Anywhere can run without it.
Manage hybrid servers with Systems Manager (hybrid activations) for patching and inventory.
How to choose
Scenario wording
Choose
“Data must not leave the hospital, but use AWS services and APIs”
Outposts rack
“Small retail sites need local compute”
Outposts servers
“Users in one city need lowest latency, no on-premises hardware”
Local Zone
“Run containers on existing on-premises VMs, managed centrally”
ECS Anywhere
“Air-gapped Kubernetes clusters on premises”
EKS Anywhere
“Managed EKS control plane with on-premises worker nodes”
EKS Hybrid Nodes
Common traps
Assuming an Outpost works fully disconnected from its Region.
Choosing an Outpost when the users, not the data, are the reason for latency (a Local Zone is simpler).
Rebuilding container tooling for on-premises servers instead of ECS Anywhere or EKS hybrid options.
Picking Wavelength or IoT services, which are out of scope for SAP-C03.
A car maker runs robotic welding cells on its plant floor. Each cell's controller calls a machine-vision model to approve every weld, and the controller needs a reply within a few milliseconds, so the inference cannot run in a distant Region.
The plant's network link to AWS is shared with the office, and the plant must keep approving welds during an internet outage. The IT team wants AWS-managed hardware that runs the same EC2, EBS and container services it uses in the cloud, with no servers for the plant to maintain.
Which solution meets these requirements?
Choose one answer.
AA. Install an AWS Outposts rack in the plant, run the model on EC2 instances and containers on the rack, and have the welding cells call it over the plant's local network.
BB. Deploy the model on EC2 instances in an AWS Local Zone in the nearest metro area, which offers single-digit millisecond latency to nearby sites, and have the welding controllers call it over the plant's shared link.
CC. Run the model on the plant's existing Linux servers with Amazon ECS Anywhere, and let the plant's IT team patch, replace and monitor those servers.
DD. Run the model on EC2 instances in the Region closest to the plant, and connect the plant to that Region with two AWS Direct Connect connections.
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: A
A. Right: Correct. An Outposts rack puts AWS-managed hardware and the same EC2, EBS and container services in the plant, so replies stay on the local network. The rack keeps running local workloads if the link to the parent Region drops.
B. Wrong: A Local Zone sits in a metro area rather than on the plant floor, so every reply still crosses the network. The link is also shared with the office, so welding could stop in an outage.
C. Wrong: ECS Anywhere can run containers on servers the customer owns and fits the latency need. It conflicts with the requirement for AWS-managed hardware and with having no servers for the plant to maintain.
D. Wrong: Direct Connect shortens the path, but the round trip to a Region still adds delay that the controllers cannot tolerate. Replies would also stop during a Region or link outage.
Explanation
Outposts gives a few-millisecond local path on AWS-managed hardware and keeps local workloads running through an outage. A Local Zone or Region still depends on the wide area link, and ECS Anywhere puts server operations back on the plant team.
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