A DevOps engineer is researching the least expensive way to implement an image batch processing cluster on AWS. The application cannot run in Docker containers and must run on Amazon EC2. The batch…

While EFS is suitable, an EC2 Auto Scaling group might not exclusively use Spot Instances, and relying on user data for a 30-minute installation incurs costs for non-productive setup time, making it less cost-effective.

GlusterFS requires self-management on EC2, which increases operational overhead and may not be as cost-effective as managed EFS. Furthermore, this option doesn't specify using Spot Instances or custom AMIs for efficiency.

Although using EFS and EC2 Spot Instances via EC2 Fleet is cost-effective, employing user data for a 30-minute installation on every instance launch or replacement means paying for significant non-productive time, which is less optimal than using a pre-configured custom AMI.

This option combines Amazon EFS for managed NFS checkpoint data, EC2 Fleet to leverage highly cost-effective and interruptible Spot Instances, and a custom AMI with pre-installed cluster software. The custom AMI eliminates the 30-minute setup time, minimizing billing for non-productive instance time, making it the most cost-effective approach for frequent launches or interruptions.