Exam Breakdown

The Solution Architect Associate exam is composed of questions in six major categories in the following percentages:

Domain 1: Design Resilient Architectures (30%)

Design a multi-tier architecture solution

  • Determine a solution design based on access patterns.
  • Determine a scaling strategy for components used in a design.
  • Select an appropriate database based on requirements.
  • Select an appropriate compute and storage service based on requirements.

Design highly available and/or fault-tolerant architectures

  • Determine the amount of resources needed to provide a fault-tolerant architecture across Availability Zones.
  • Select a highly available configuration to mitigate single points of failure.
  • Apply AWS services to improve the reliability of legacy applications when application changes are not possible.
  • Select an appropriate disaster recovery strategy to meet business requirements.
  • Identify key performance indicators to ensure the high availability of the solution.

Design decoupling mechanisms using AWS services

  • Determine which AWS services can be leveraged to achieve loose coupling of components.
  • Determine when to leverage serverless technologies to enable decoupling.

Choose appropriate resilient storage

  • Define a strategy to ensure the durability of data.
  • Identify how data service consistency will affect the operation of the application.
  • Select data services that will meet the access requirements of the application.
  • Identify storage services that can be used with hybrid or non-cloud-native applications.

Domain 2: Design High-Performing Architectures (28%)

Identify elastic and scalable compute solutions for a workload

  • Select the appropriate instance(s) based on compute, storage, and networking requirements.
  • Choose the appropriate architecture and services that scale to meet performance requirements.
  • Identify metrics to monitor the performance of the solution.

Select high-performing and scalable storage solutions for a workload

  • Select a storage service and configuration that meets performance demands.
  • Determine storage services that can scale to accommodate future needs.

Select high-performing networking solutions for a workload

  • Select appropriate AWS connectivity options to meet performance demands.
  • Select appropriate features to optimize connectivity to AWS public services.
  • Determine an edge caching strategy to provide performance benefits.
  • Select appropriate data transfer service for migration and/or ingestion.

Choose high-performing database solutions for a workload

  • Select an appropriate database scaling strategy.
  • Determine when database caching is required for performance improvement.
  • Choose a suitable database service to meet performance needs.

Domain 3: Design Secure Applications and Architectures (24%)

Design secure access to AWS resources

  • Determine when to choose between users, groups, and roles.
  • Interpret the net effect of a given access policy.
  • Select appropriate techniques to secure a root account.
  • Determine ways to secure credentials using features of AWS IAM.
  • Determine the secure method for an application to access AWS APIs.
  • Select appropriate services to create traceability for access to AWS resources.

Design secure application tiers

  • Given traffic control requirements, determine when and how to use security groups and network ACLs.
  • Determine a network segmentation strategy using public and private subnets.
  • Select the appropriate routing mechanism to securely access AWS service endpoints or internet-based resources from Amazon VPC.
  • Select appropriate AWS services to protect applications from external threats.

Select appropriate data security options

  • Determine the policies that need to be applied to objects based on access patterns.
  • Select appropriate encryption options for data at rest and in transit for AWS services.
  • Select appropriate key management options based on requirements.

Domain 4: Design Cost-Optimized Architectures (12%)

Identify cost-effective storage solutions

  • Determine the most cost-effective data storage options based on requirements.
  • Apply automated processes to ensure that data over time is stored on storage tiers that minimize costs.

Identify cost-effective compute and database services

  • Determine the most cost-effective Amazon EC2 billing options for each aspect of the workload.
  • Determine the most cost-effective database options based on requirements.
  • Select appropriate scaling strategies from a cost perspective.
  • Select and size compute resources that are optimally suited for the workload.
  • Determine options to minimize total cost of ownership (TCO) through managed services and serverless architectures.

Design cost-optimized network architectures

  • Identify when content delivery can be used to reduce costs.
  • Determine strategies to reduce data transfer costs within AWS.
  • Determine the most cost-effective connectivity options between AWS and on-premises environments.