mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped

A company runs a batch processing workload on an on-premises data center. The servers are powerful machines that are used at maximum capacity only for a few days each month during financial reporting periods. For the rest of the month, the servers run at very low utilization. The CFO wants to migrate this workload to AWS to reduce costs. Which characteristic of AWS cloud computing is most directly aligned with the CFO's goal of paying only for the compute capacity actually used?

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A company runs a batch processing workload on an on-premises data center. The servers are powerful machines that are used at maximum capacity only for a few days each month during financial reporting periods. For the rest of the month, the servers run at very low utilization. The CFO wants to migrate this workload to AWS to reduce costs. Which characteristic of AWS cloud computing is most directly aligned with the CFO's goal of paying only for the compute capacity actually used?

Answer choices

Why each option matters

Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.

A

Distractor review

High availability across multiple Availability Zones

High availability ensures that applications remain accessible during failures, but it does not directly address paying only for used capacity. It is a design principle, not a pricing model.

B

Distractor review

Elasticity to automatically scale resources up and down

Elasticity allows resources to be automatically adjusted to match demand, which can reduce waste, but the CFO's stated goal is specifically about the pricing model that charges only for consumed capacity. The pay-as-you-go model is the fundamental advantage that aligns with paying for actual usage.

C

Best answer

Pay-as-you-go pricing model

The pay-as-you-go model lets customers pay only for the compute capacity they actually use, with no upfront capital expenditure or charges for idle resources. This directly meets the CFO's objective of eliminating costs for underutilized on-premises servers.

D

Distractor review

The ability to choose from a wide variety of instance types

While choosing the right instance type can optimize performance and cost, it does not eliminate the problem of paying for idle resources. The pay-as-you-go model is the key enabler for paying only for actual usage.

Common exam trap

Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic

NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.

Technical deep dive

How to think about this question

NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.

KKey Concepts to Remember

  • Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
  • PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
  • Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
  • NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.

TExam Day Tips

  • Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
  • Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
  • Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.

Related practice questions

Related CLF-C02 practice-question pages

Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.

More questions from this exam

Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.

Question 1

A developer needs to launch a test server for a new application prototype. The developer logs into the AWS Management Console, selects an Amazon EC2 instance type, configures the security group, and starts the instance. The instance is running within two minutes, and the developer did not need to submit a formal request to the company's IT procurement team or wait for approval from a cloud administrator. Which essential characteristic of cloud computing does this scenario best demonstrate?

Question 2

A solutions architect is planning a new web application on AWS. The workload will include 3 Amazon EC2 instances (t3.medium) running 24/7, an Application Load Balancer, and an Amazon RDS for MySQL db.t3.small database. The architect needs to estimate the monthly cost for the first year, considering different purchasing options (On-Demand, 1-year All Upfront Reserved Instance, and Compute Savings Plan). Which AWS tool should the architect use to create this estimate?

Question 3

A company's development team frequently needs temporary test environments. A developer can log into the AWS Management Console, select an Amazon EC2 instance type, configure storage, and launch the instance within minutes without any interaction with the IT infrastructure team. This capability is an example of which essential characteristic of cloud computing?

Question 4

A company's finance team needs to analyze AWS spending in detail. They require a report that includes hourly cost data for each AWS service, each individual resource (e.g., a specific EC2 instance), and any cost allocation tags applied. The team plans to export this data to an Amazon S3 bucket and then import it into a custom business intelligence (BI) analytics dashboard. Which AWS tool should the finance team use to generate this level of detailed cost data?

Question 5

A company uses AWS for its development environment. The finance team wants to set a monthly budget of $10,000. They want to receive an email notification when the actual costs reach 80% of the budget ($8,000) and again when costs exceed the budget. The team needs a managed AWS service that can automatically send these alerts without requiring custom code or third-party tools. Which AWS service should the team use?

Question 6

A company uses AWS Organizations to manage multiple accounts. The security team needs to enforce a policy that restricts SSH access (port 22) from the internet (0.0.0.0/0) in all VPCs across all accounts. The team wants to centrally define the allowed rules and automatically apply them to newly created VPCs and security groups, while also automatically remediating any existing non-compliant security groups. Which AWS service should the team use?

FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this CLF-C02 question test?

Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Pay-as-you-go pricing model — The CFO wants to avoid paying for idle capacity. The pay-as-you-go pricing model of AWS allows the company to pay only for the compute resources it consumes, with no upfront costs or long-term commitments. This directly addresses the inefficiency of paying for underutilized on-premises servers. Elasticity (Option B) is about automatically scaling resources in response to demand, which is a different concept; while it can help reduce waste, it is not the pricing model itself. High availability (Option A) ensures uptime, not cost efficiency. A wide variety of instance types (Option D) helps in choosing the right fit but does not eliminate the cost of idle capacity.

What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?

Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.

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