CLF-C02 Cloud Technology and Services Practice Test 9 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company runs a web application across multiple Amazon EC2 instances that are distributed across several Availability Zones. The application needs to share a common set of configuration files and static assets that must be accessible concurrently and consistently from all instances. The company wants a fully managed, scalable file storage solution that does not require provisioning or managing underlying storage hardware. Which AWS service should the company use?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Amazon Elastic File System (EFS). Amazon EFS provides a fully managed, scalable, and shared file system that can be mounted concurrently by multiple EC2 instances across different Availability Zones. It uses the NFSv4.1 protocol, ensuring consistent access to configuration files and static assets without any provisioning or management of underlying storage hardware.

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Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)

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Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)

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Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)

Question 2

A company is developing a microservices application using Docker containers. The development team wants to deploy and run these containers on AWS without having to provision or manage any underlying EC2 instances. Additionally, the team does not want to manage the container orchestration control plane. They need a fully serverless compute engine for containers that automatically scales based on demand. Which AWS compute option should the team use?

Accepted Answer

Amazon ECS with the AWS Fargate launch type. Amazon ECS with the AWS Fargate launch type is the correct choice because it provides a fully serverless compute engine for containers. Fargate eliminates the need to provision or manage EC2 instances and removes the burden of managing the container orchestration control plane, as AWS handles both the underlying infrastructure and the orchestration layer. It automatically scales container instances based on demand, meeting the team's requirement for a serverless, auto-scaling container solution.

Answer

Amazon EC2 instances with Docker installed

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AWS Lambda

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Amazon EKS with managed node groups

Question 3

A media company runs a website that serves video content globally. Users request video previews, which require the generation of thumbnail images on-the-fly. The company wants to generate these thumbnails at AWS edge locations so that the processing occurs close to users, reducing latency and offloading the origin servers. The solution must run custom code in response to CloudFront events without provisioning any servers. Which AWS service should the company use to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

AWS Lambda@Edge. AWS Lambda@Edge is the correct service because it allows you to run custom code in response to CloudFront events (such as viewer request, origin request, viewer response, and origin response) at AWS edge locations, enabling on-the-fly thumbnail generation close to users without provisioning any servers. This reduces latency and offloads origin servers, meeting the requirement for serverless edge processing.

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AWS Lambda

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Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group

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Amazon ElastiCache

Question 4

A company runs a read-heavy web application on Amazon EC2 instances that queries an Amazon RDS database. As traffic grows, the database CPU utilization is consistently high, causing slow response times for users. The company wants to reduce the load on the database by caching frequently accessed query results. They need a fully managed, in-memory caching service that can be set up quickly and integrates with common programming languages. Which AWS service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Amazon ElastiCache. Amazon ElastiCache is a fully managed, in-memory caching service that supports Redis and Memcached, both of which integrate with common programming languages via standard client libraries. It can be deployed quickly to cache frequently accessed database query results, offloading read traffic from the Amazon RDS instance and reducing CPU utilization.

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Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX)

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Amazon CloudFront

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Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration

Question 5

A company runs a multi-tier web application on Amazon EC2 instances across multiple Availability Zones. The application has separate backend services for serving images and handling API requests, each running on different sets of EC2 instances. The company needs a load balancer that can inspect incoming HTTP/HTTPS requests and route them to the correct target group based on the URL path (e.g., /images to one group, /api to another). The solution must also offload SSL/TLS termination and perform health checks on the instances. Which AWS service should the company use?

Accepted Answer

Application Load Balancer. The Application Load Balancer (ALB) operates at Layer 7 of the OSI model, allowing it to inspect HTTP/HTTPS headers and route traffic based on URL path patterns (e.g., /images vs /api). It natively supports SSL/TLS termination and can perform health checks on target instances, making it the correct choice for this multi-tier web application.

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Network Load Balancer

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Classic Load Balancer

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AWS CloudFront

Question 6

A media company streams live video to a global audience. The application runs on Application Load Balancers in two AWS Regions (us-east-1 and eu-west-1). The company's clients require the use of a fixed set of static IP addresses for firewall allowlisting. The company needs to route user traffic to the nearest healthy endpoint to minimize latency. Which AWS service should the company use?

Accepted Answer

AWS Global Accelerator. AWS Global Accelerator provides two static Anycast IP addresses that serve as fixed entry points for traffic, which are then routed over the AWS global network to the nearest healthy endpoint (e.g., Application Load Balancer in us-east-1 or eu-west-1). This minimizes latency by directing users to the closest Region while preserving the static IPs required for firewall allowlisting. Unlike CloudFront, Global Accelerator does not cache content and is optimized for TCP/UDP traffic, making it ideal for live video streaming where low latency and static IPs are critical.

Answer

Amazon CloudFront

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Network Load Balancer

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Amazon Route 53 latency-based routing

Question 7

A company manages a fleet of hundreds of Amazon EC2 instances running across multiple AWS Regions. The company's security policy requires that all instances be patched with the latest security updates within 7 days of release. The operations team currently logs in to each instance manually to apply patches, which is time-consuming and error-prone. The team wants to automate the patching process, track compliance across all instances, and receive reports on patch status. The solution must not require any changes to the existing application code or the use of additional third-party software. Which AWS service should the operations team use to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

AWS Systems Manager. AWS Systems Manager is the correct choice because it provides Patch Manager, a native capability that automates the patching of EC2 instances across multiple Regions without requiring any changes to application code or third-party software. It also integrates with Systems Manager Compliance to track patch status and generate reports, meeting all stated requirements.

Answer

AWS Config

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Amazon Inspector

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AWS Trusted Advisor

Question 8

A company runs a web application on Amazon EC2 instances that accepts user uploads. The uploads need to be processed by a backend service that performs virus scanning and thumbnail generation. The backend processing can take up to 30 seconds per upload. Users should not experience delays when submitting their files. The company wants to decouple the web tier from the processing tier so that the web application can immediately return a response to the user while the processing happens asynchronously. The solution must be fully managed, durable, and scale automatically with demand. Which AWS service should the company use?

Accepted Answer

Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS). Amazon SQS is the correct choice because it provides a fully managed, durable, and scalable message queue that decouples the web tier from the processing tier. When a user uploads a file, the web application can immediately return a response after sending a message to an SQS queue, while the backend service polls the queue and processes the upload asynchronously, handling the up-to-30-second processing time without blocking the user.

Answer

Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS)

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Amazon Kinesis Data Streams

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Amazon MQ

Question 9

A company runs a data-intensive workload in a colocation facility and wants to establish a dedicated, private network connection to its Amazon VPC. The connection must bypass the public internet to provide consistent high throughput and low latency. The company also wants to avoid data transfer costs associated with internet-based connections. Which AWS service should the company use?

Accepted Answer

AWS Direct Connect. AWS Direct Connect is the correct service because it provides a dedicated, private network connection from an on-premises or colocation facility directly to an Amazon VPC, bypassing the public internet entirely. This ensures consistent high throughput, low latency, and eliminates data transfer costs associated with internet-based connections, as traffic flows over a private physical link.

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AWS Site-to-Site VPN

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AWS VPN CloudHub

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AWS Transit Gateway

Question 10

A company has an on-premises file server that stores large datasets. The company wants to reduce its on-premises storage footprint by moving cold data to AWS. However, users need low-latency access to frequently used files, and the applications must be able to access the data using the standard SMB protocol. The company wants to cache frequently accessed data locally on-premises for low latency, while securely storing all data in Amazon S3. Which AWS service should the company use?

Accepted Answer

AWS Storage Gateway File Gateway. AWS Storage Gateway File Gateway is the correct choice because it provides on-premises caching of frequently accessed files for low-latency access via the standard SMB protocol, while all data is stored durably in Amazon S3. This directly meets the requirement to reduce on-premises storage footprint by moving cold data to AWS, while keeping hot data cached locally for performance.

Answer

Amazon FSx for Windows File Server

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AWS DataSync

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Amazon S3 with AWS Direct Connect

Question 11

A financial services company runs a high-frequency trading application that must process transactions with sub-millisecond latency. The application must run in the company's own data center to meet strict latency requirements, but the company wants to use the same AWS management APIs, control plane, and tools (such as AWS CloudFormation and Amazon CloudWatch) for consistency across on-premises and cloud environments. The company also needs the ability to seamlessly run Amazon EBS-backed Amazon EC2 instances locally. Which AWS service should the company use to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

AWS Outposts. AWS Outposts is correct because it extends AWS infrastructure, services, APIs, and tools to on-premises data centers, enabling the company to run Amazon EBS-backed EC2 instances locally with sub-millisecond latency while using the same AWS management APIs, CloudFormation, and CloudWatch for consistency.

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AWS Wavelength

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AWS Local Zones

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AWS Direct Connect

Question 12

A company hosts a static website on Amazon S3. Users in different geographic locations experience high latency when accessing the website. The company wants to reduce latency for all users and also minimize the number of direct requests to the S3 bucket. Which AWS service should the company use?

Accepted Answer

Amazon CloudFront. Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) that caches static content at edge locations worldwide, significantly reducing latency for users regardless of their geographic location. By serving content from the edge, CloudFront also offloads direct requests to the S3 bucket, reducing the load on the origin and potentially lowering costs.

Answer

AWS Global Accelerator

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Amazon Route 53 latency-based routing

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AWS Direct Connect

Question 13

A gaming company operates a mobile game with millions of active users. The game stores player profiles and session state in a key-value database. The database must provide single-digit millisecond latency for read and write operations at any scale. The company expects traffic to grow unpredictably, and the database must scale horizontally without downtime. The company wants a fully managed, highly available solution with built-in replication across multiple Availability Zones. Which AWS service should the company use?

Accepted Answer

Amazon DynamoDB. Amazon DynamoDB is the correct choice because it is a fully managed, serverless, NoSQL key-value database that delivers single-digit millisecond latency at any scale. It supports horizontal scaling via automatic partitioning and replication across multiple Availability Zones (AZs) for high availability, with no downtime required for scaling. This directly matches the gaming company's requirements for low-latency reads/writes, unpredictable traffic growth, and built-in multi-AZ replication.

Answer

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

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Amazon Redshift

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Amazon ElastiCache for Redis

Question 14

A company wants to build a serverless application that processes images uploaded to an Amazon S3 bucket. When a user uploads a new image, the application must automatically resize the image to multiple dimensions and store the resized versions in the same bucket under a different prefix. The company wants to minimize operational overhead and pay only for the compute time used. Which AWS service should be used to run the image processing code?

Accepted Answer

AWS Lambda. AWS Lambda is the correct choice because it is a serverless compute service that runs code in response to S3 events, such as object creation. It automatically scales with the number of uploads, charges only for the compute time consumed (per 100ms increments), and requires no infrastructure management, making it ideal for event-driven image processing tasks.

Answer

Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling group

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Amazon ECS with Fargate

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AWS Batch

Question 15

A company uses AWS Organizations to manage multiple accounts. The operations team runs hundreds of Amazon EC2 instances across these accounts for various applications. The security team requires that all EC2 instances be patched with the latest security updates within 7 days of release. Currently, the operations team manually applies patches by logging into each account and using Systems Manager Patch Manager individually. The team wants to centralize patch compliance management so that a single operations team can define patch baselines, schedule patching, and view compliance status across all accounts from a single pane of glass, without needing to switch between accounts. Which AWS service or feature should the team use to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager. AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager is the correct choice because it allows the operations team to centrally define patch baselines, schedule patching across multiple AWS accounts, and view compliance status from a single pane of glass using AWS Systems Manager Quick Setup or multi-account management features. By integrating with AWS Organizations, Patch Manager can target EC2 instances across all accounts without requiring the team to switch between accounts, meeting the requirement for centralized patch compliance management.

Answer

AWS Config

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Amazon Inspector

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AWS Trusted Advisor