AWS Solutions Architect Associate Practice Test

What is the primary function of Amazon SWF?

1. Manage user identification and authorization

2. Coordinate synchronous and asynchronous tasks

3. Secure their VPCs

4. Help users store file-based objects

The correct answer is: Coordinate synchronous and asynchronous tasks

The primary function of Amazon Simple Workflow Service (SWF) is to coordinate synchronous and asynchronous tasks in application workflows. SWF provides a reliable way to manage and execute tasks that can be executed in parallel or sequentially, enabling developers to build and scale complex applications. It abstracts the complexity of task coordination, allowing for a separation of concerns where the business logic is decoupled from the execution of tasks. By leveraging SWF, developers can specify workflows while SWF handles the scheduling and execution of tasks, ensuring that they are carried out as needed. This is particularly useful in distributed environments where tasks may depend on external systems or require long-running processes, making it easier to ensure that workflow execution is consistent, reliable, and scalable. The other options address different functionalities that are not directly provided by SWF. Managing user identification and authorization is primarily handled by AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), securing VPCs pertains to the use of Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and its associated security features, and storing file-based objects is the role of Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3). Thus, these options do not align with the core purpose of Amazon SWF.