AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Practice Exam

What is a recommended troubleshooting step if an EBS volume is stuck in the "attaching" state?

1. Delete and recreate the EBS volume

2. Verify the device name is not in use and try attaching again

3. Wait for longer than 30 minutes before taking action

4. Attach the volume to a different EC2 instance instead

The correct answer is: Verify the device name is not in use and try attaching again

Verifying that the device name is not in use and attempting to attach the EBS volume again is a recommended troubleshooting step if an EBS volume is stuck in the "attaching" state. This is because each EBS volume must be attached to a specific device name, and if that device name is already occupied by another resource or is incorrectly specified, the attachment can fail or hang. By checking that the specified device name for the volume is indeed available and not currently in use, you can resolve potential conflicts that could be causing the volume to get stuck. If everything looks correct with the device name, re-attempting the attach operation may successfully complete the action. This approach allows for a systematic diagnosis of the attachment problem without resorting to more drastic measures such as deleting the volume, which would result in data loss unless backed up.