Automating Replication and Deployment of Software Configuration on AWS EC2 Instances

Correct Answer - A.

AWS OpsWorks provides a fully managed configuration automation and management service of Chef and Puppet.

These platforms will allow for the use of code to automate the configurations of EC2 instances, including replication, as stated in the scenario.

With Chef and Puppet, OpsWorks will allow for the automation of how servers are configured, deployed and managed across Amazon EC2 instances or on-premises compute environments.

Option B is INCORRECT because AWS Elastic Beanstalk is a service for deploying and scaling web applications and services developed with Java, .NET, PHP, Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go, and Docker on familiar servers such as Apache, Nginx, Passenger, and IIS.

It will not replicate a specific software service configuration onto a multitude of EC2 instances autonomously.

https://aws.amazon.com/elasticbeanstalk/

Option C is INCORRECT because a Launch Configuration is primarily an instance configuration template that an Auto Scaling group uses to launch EC2 instances.

It is the blueprint of the Auto Scaling group.

It also determines the configuration output of each instance.

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/autoscaling/ec2/userguide/LaunchConfiguration.html

Option D is INCORRECT because Auto-scaling is responsive to preset threshold levels in a deployment environment.

It does not offer a fully managed functionality that allows for the mass replication of a specific configuration, as the scenario outlines.

https://aws.amazon.com/autoscaling/

The BEST AWS service for automating the replication and deployment of software configuration from one EC2 instance to 400 others would be AWS OpsWorks.

AWS OpsWorks is a configuration management service that automates the deployment of applications and software configurations to EC2 instances. It provides a flexible and scalable way to manage the infrastructure and software on EC2 instances.

Here are some reasons why AWS OpsWorks is the best fit for this scenario:

1. It provides centralized management: AWS OpsWorks allows the administrator to manage the software configuration of all 400 EC2 instances from a single location. This centralized management reduces the complexity of managing large-scale deployments.

2. It supports automation: AWS OpsWorks supports automation of software configuration management. The administrator can create custom recipes using Chef or Puppet, which can then be used to deploy software configurations to multiple EC2 instances.

3. It supports multiple platforms: AWS OpsWorks supports a variety of platforms, including Windows and Linux, and provides a consistent way to manage software configuration across all platforms.

4. It provides scalability: AWS OpsWorks can scale up or down based on the number of EC2 instances. This means that the administrator can easily manage software configurations on any number of EC2 instances, from a few to thousands.

AWS Beanstalk, AWS Launch Configuration, and AWS Auto-scaling are also valuable services for managing EC2 instances, but they are not specifically designed for managing software configurations. AWS Beanstalk is a platform for deploying and scaling web applications. AWS Launch Configuration provides a way to configure the launch settings for EC2 instances, while AWS Auto-scaling helps to automatically scale the EC2 instances up or down based on traffic or other factors.

In summary, AWS OpsWorks is the best choice for automating the replication and deployment of software configurations on 400 EC2 instances due to its centralized management, automation capabilities, support for multiple platforms, and scalability.