SAP-C02 Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization Practice Test 23 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company is migrating a legacy application to AWS. The application has hardcoded IP addresses and uses non-HTTP protocols. The solutions architect needs to minimize changes to the application code. Which migration pattern should be used?

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

Accepted Answer

Rehost the application on EC2 instances with the same IP addresses using Elastic IPs.. Rehosting (lift-and-shift) with EC2 instances and Elastic IPs allows the application to retain its hardcoded IP addresses with minimal code changes. Option A is wrong because AWS Global Accelerator provides static IP addresses for front-end traffic, but the application's hardcoded IPs are internal; changing to use Global Accelerator still requires code modifications. Option B is wrong because containerization and service discovery require code changes to integrate with service discovery. Option D is wrong because refactoring to use DNS names requires modifying the application code.

Answer

Use AWS Global Accelerator to assign static IP addresses.

Answer

Containerize the application and use service discovery.

Answer

Refactor the application to use DNS names instead of IP addresses.

Question 2

A company is migrating its on-premises VMware virtual machines to AWS. The company wants to use the same VM images and has a 10 Gbps direct connect link. Which service should be used to automate the migration of the VMs?

Accepted Answer

AWS VM Import/Export. AWS VM Import/Export enables the import of existing VM images (including VMware) from on-premises into EC2, making it the correct choice for migrating existing VM images. Option A (AWS Migration Hub) is a tracking and management service, not a migration tool. Option B (AWS DataSync) is used for transferring file and object storage, not VM images. Option D (AWS Server Migration Service) is deprecated and is not the recommended service for this use case; AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) is the modern replacement, but VM Import/Export directly supports importing images without agent installation.

Answer

AWS Migration Hub

Answer

AWS DataSync

Answer

AWS Server Migration Service

Question 3

A company is migrating a legacy application to AWS. The application has hardcoded IP addresses and uses non-HTTP protocols. The solutions architect needs to minimize changes to the application code. Which migration pattern should be used?

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

Accepted Answer

Amazon Aurora. Amazon Aurora is a MySQL- and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud, combining the performance and availability of high-end commercial databases with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of open-source databases. It supports up to 15 low-latency read replicas, which can be used for reporting workloads, and it automates time-consuming tasks such as hardware provisioning, database setup, patching, and backups, thereby minimizing operational overhead.

Answer

Amazon DynamoDB

Answer

Amazon Redshift

Answer

Amazon ElastiCache

Question 4

A company is migrating a critical application to AWS and needs to ensure high availability across AWS Regions. The application uses a relational database. Which THREE components are necessary for this multi-region architecture?

Accepted Answer

Application Load Balancer in each region. For a multi-region architecture ensuring high availability, three key components are required: an Application Load Balancer in each region to distribute traffic locally, Amazon Route 53 with failover routing policy to direct traffic to the healthy region, and an Amazon RDS cross-Region read replica to provide database disaster recovery and read scalability. Option A (RDS Multi-AZ) is incorrect because it only provides high availability within a single region, not across regions. Option E (VPC peering) is incorrect because VPC peering does not provide high availability; it is a networking feature for connecting VPCs, typically within the same region or across regions for private communication, but it is not a component for multi-region HA architecture.

Answer

Amazon RDS Multi-AZ deployment

Answer

VPC peering between regions

Question 5

Which TWO AWS services can be used to migrate on-premises applications to AWS without modifying the application code?

Accepted Answer

AWS VM Import/Export. AWS VM Import/Export allows importing VM images as EC2 instances, preserving the OS and applications. AWS MGN automates lift-and-shift replication. AWS DMS requires some changes for database migration. AWS DataSync is for data transfer. AWS App2Container requires containerization.

Answer

AWS DataSync

Answer

AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)

Answer

AWS App2Container

Question 6

A company is modernizing a monolithic application into microservices on AWS. The application currently uses a single SQL database. Which THREE AWS services can help decouple the data layer and enable event-driven communication between microservices?

Accepted Answer

Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS). Amazon SQS provides message queuing for async communication. Amazon SNS enables pub/sub messaging. Amazon EventBridge provides event bus for decoupled communication. Amazon RDS is a relational database, not for decoupling. Amazon ElastiCache is caching.

Answer

Amazon RDS

Answer

Amazon ElastiCache

Question 7

A company is migrating a large .NET application to AWS. The application uses Windows authentication and integrates with Active Directory. The company wants to minimize operational overhead for the directory service. The on-premises Active Directory is already synchronized to AWS using AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory. During migration, the application fails to authenticate users. The security team confirms that the on-premises AD and AWS Managed AD are in sync. The application is running on EC2 instances that are joined to the AWS Managed AD domain. The application logs show authentication errors. What is the most likely cause of the authentication failure?

Accepted Answer

The application is using a service account that is not in the AWS Managed AD.. The most likely cause is that the application is using a service account that is not present in AWS Managed AD. While the on-premises AD is synchronized, the specific service account may not have been replicated or may have been excluded from synchronization. Without the correct service account, Windows authentication will fail. NTLM is enabled by default in AWS Managed AD, so option A is incorrect. The security group must allow LDAP traffic (port 389) for domain-joined instances; if instances are joined, this is already configured, making option B unlikely. EC2 instances must resolve the domain controller DNS to join the domain; since they are joined, DNS resolution is working, so option C is incorrect.

Answer

The application requires NTLM authentication, which is disabled by default.

Answer

The security group does not allow traffic on port 389 (LDAP).

Answer

The EC2 instances cannot resolve the domain controller DNS name.

Question 8

A company is migrating its on-premises file server to AWS. The file server contains 50 TB of data stored on a Windows Server with NTFS permissions. The company needs to maintain the folder structure and permissions after migration. The migration must be completed within one week. The company has a 100 Mbps internet connection. Which approach should the solutions architect recommend?

Accepted Answer

Use AWS Snowball Edge to transfer data to an S3 bucket, then use AWS DataSync to copy to Amazon FSx for Windows File Server.. Given the large data size (50 TB) and limited bandwidth (100 Mbps), transferring over the internet would take approximately 46 days, exceeding the one-week window. AWS Snowball Edge provides a physical data transport solution that bypasses bandwidth constraints. After transferring data to an S3 bucket via Snowball Edge, AWS DataSync can be used to copy the data to Amazon FSx for Windows File Server, preserving folder structure and NTFS permissions. Option A (Storage Gateway File Gateway) still requires initial network transfer, which is too slow. Option C (DataSync directly to EFS) would also be too slow over the internet and EFS does not support NTFS ACLs. Option D (CLI to S3 and mount) loses permissions and is also bandwidth-limited.

Answer

Use AWS Storage Gateway File Gateway to cache data on-premises and sync to S3.

Answer

Use AWS DataSync to transfer data directly to Amazon EFS over the internet.

Answer

Use AWS CLI to copy data directly to an S3 bucket, then mount S3 as a file system.

Question 9

A company is modernizing a legacy Java application to run on AWS. The application currently uses a monolithic architecture with a shared MySQL database. The company wants to adopt a microservices architecture using containers and wants to decouple the database. The solutions architect proposes using Amazon ECS with Fargate for compute and Amazon RDS for MySQL for the database. However, during the transition, the performance team notices that the database CPU utilization is consistently above 80% during peak hours. The application logs show many slow queries. The team suspects that the database is the bottleneck. The company wants to improve performance without rewriting the application. Which action should the solutions architect take first?

Accepted Answer

Enable Amazon RDS Performance Insights to identify the most resource-intensive queries.. The first step to address the database bottleneck is to identify the root cause of the slow queries. Enabling Amazon RDS Performance Insights provides detailed visibility into query performance, allowing the team to pinpoint the most resource-intensive queries and their execution plans. This diagnostic information guides further optimization efforts (e.g., indexing, query rewriting, or schema changes) without requiring application code changes. Options B and C are premature without understanding which queries are problematic; a read replica would not help if the bottleneck is write-heavy or if reads are already well-distributed, and scaling up may only mask the issue. Option D would require significant application rewriting, which contradicts the requirement to improve performance without rewriting the application.

Answer

Add an RDS read replica and direct read traffic to it.

Answer

Scale up the RDS instance to a larger instance type.

Answer

Migrate the database to Amazon DynamoDB to eliminate relational bottlenecks.

Question 10

A company is planning to migrate its on-premises Oracle database to Amazon RDS for Oracle using AWS DMS. The database is 5 TB in size with continuous changes. Which TWO steps should the company take to minimize downtime during the migration?

Accepted Answer

Set up ongoing replication using change data capture (CDC) from the start.. Setting up ongoing replication using change data capture (CDC) from the start allows continuous synchronization of changes, minimizing the final cutover downtime. Option D is correct because using a large DMS replication instance improves throughput and speeds up the data transfer, reducing the overall migration time. Option B is incorrect because Multi-AZ is a high-availability feature for the target RDS instance, not a factor in migration speed or downtime reduction. Option C is incorrect because while AWS Direct Connect can provide a reliable network connection, it is not a specific step to minimize downtime during migration; the primary focus should be on replication strategy and instance size. Option E is incorrect because performing a full load first and then applying CDC after the cutover window would result in a longer downtime compared to having CDC running from the start.

Answer

Enable Multi-AZ on the target RDS instance during migration.

Answer

Use AWS Direct Connect to establish a dedicated network connection.

Answer

Perform a full load migration first, then apply CDC after the cutover window.

Question 11

A company is migrating a monolithic application to a microservices architecture on Amazon ECS. The application uses a shared MySQL database. Which THREE strategies should the company use to modernize the data layer?

Accepted Answer

Use database per service pattern.. (database per service pattern) is correct because it aligns with microservices principles by giving each service its own database, enabling independent scaling and deployment. Option D (read replicas) is correct for offloading read queries from the primary database, improving performance for read-heavy workloads. Option E (CQRS and event sourcing) is correct for separating read and write operations and maintaining an event log, which helps in decomposing the monolith and ensuring eventual consistency. Option A is wrong because Amazon DynamoDB may not be suitable for all relational data and migrating all data to NoSQL is not always appropriate. Option C is wrong because keeping a single RDS instance with multiple schemas does not fully decouple the data layer and still creates a single point of failure and coupling.

Answer

Migrate all data to Amazon DynamoDB.

Answer

Keep a single RDS instance with multiple schemas.

Question 12

A company is migrating its on-premises VMware VMs to AWS using AWS MGN. After the test cutover, the migrated EC2 instance fails the health check. The source VM runs Windows Server 2016 with a static IP. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The source VM's static IP configuration was not changed to DHCP.. When migrating a Windows VM with a static IP using AWS MGN, the source VM must be configured to use DHCP before migration, because AWS relies on DHCP for IP assignment. If the static IP configuration persists, the EC2 instance will not obtain an IP address, causing the health check to fail. Option A is incorrect because security groups do not affect DHCP-based IP assignment. Option B is incorrect because the EBS volume type (e.g., gp3) does not impact health checks. Option D is incorrect because the instance type is not related to DHCP configuration; Windows Server 2016 is compatible with most current instance types.

Answer

The security group does not allow inbound RDP.

Answer

The EBS volume type is not gp3.

Answer

The instance type is not compatible with Windows Server 2016.

Question 13

A company is migrating its on-premises data warehouse to Amazon Redshift. The existing system uses PostgreSQL and has 10 TB of data. The migration must be completed within a 4-hour downtime window. The company has a 1 Gbps AWS Direct Connect connection. After starting the migration using AWS DMS with a full load and CDC, the full load takes 6 hours. What should the company do to meet the downtime window?

Accepted Answer

Configure multiple DMS tasks to load different tables in parallel.. The full load took 6 hours, exceeding the 4-hour downtime window. To meet the window, the company must reduce the time for the full load. Configuring multiple DMS tasks to load different tables in parallel (Option A) can significantly speed up the full load by distributing the workload across multiple tasks. Option B (Snowball Edge) would involve physical shipping and manual steps, which would not meet the 4-hour window. Option C (archiving old records) might reduce data volume but would require additional analysis and may not be feasible within the window. Option D (VPN) would likely have lower bandwidth than Direct Connect, making the load slower, not faster.

Answer

Use AWS Snowball Edge to transfer the data physically.

Answer

Reduce the amount of data by archiving older records.

Answer

Use AWS VPN instead of Direct Connect for higher bandwidth.

Question 14

A company is modernizing a legacy .NET application by containerizing it on Amazon ECS. The application currently uses Windows authentication against on-premises Active Directory. After migrating, the application needs to authenticate users against AWS Managed Microsoft AD. The security team requires that credentials never leave the corporate network. Which solution should the company implement?

Accepted Answer

Set up AWS Managed Microsoft AD with a two-way trust to on-premises AD over Direct Connect.. The correct solution is D. By setting up AWS Managed Microsoft AD with a two-way trust to on-premises Active Directory over Direct Connect, user authentication can be performed against the on-premises AD while credentials remain within the corporate network. The trust relationship allows the on-premises AD to authenticate users without credentials leaving the network. Option A is incorrect because storing passwords in Secrets Manager and authenticating against it would require credentials to leave the corporate network, violating the security requirement. Option B, AD Connector, proxies authentication requests to on-premises AD but still requires credentials to be passed through the proxy, which may not satisfy the security policy. Option C, Simple AD, does not support trusts and is not compatible with on-premises AD integration.

Answer

Store user passwords in AWS Secrets Manager and authenticate against it.

Answer

Use AWS AD Connector to proxy authentication to on-premises AD.

Answer

Use AWS Directory Service Simple AD with password sync.

Question 15

A company is migrating its on-premises NoSQL database (MongoDB) to Amazon DocumentDB. The migration must have minimal downtime. The company uses AWS DMS with ongoing replication. After starting the replication, the target DocumentDB cluster shows a lag of several minutes. The source MongoDB has high write throughput. What should the company do to reduce replication lag?

Accepted Answer

Increase the DMS replication instance size.. Larger DMS instances handle higher throughput. Option B is wrong because increasing DocumentDB size doesn't help DMS. Option C is wrong because CDC captures changes. Option D is wrong because Parallel Apply is not a DMS setting.

Answer

Increase the DocumentDB cluster instance size.

Answer

Disable CDC and perform a full load only.

Answer

Enable Parallel Apply in DMS task settings.