A company runs a customer-facing web application on a single Amazon EC2 instance. To ensure the application remains accessible if the instance fails, the company launches a second EC2 instance in a different Availability Zone and configures an Application Load Balancer to distribute traffic. The application continues to serve users with minimal downtime during the failure of any single instance. This scenario best demonstrates which cloud computing concept?
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.
Distractor review
Elasticity
Elasticity refers to the ability to automatically provision and de-provision resources to match current demand. The scenario does not describe scaling based on load changes; it describes adding a redundant instance for fault tolerance.
Best answer
High availability
Correct. High availability is the ability to keep applications running with minimal downtime by eliminating single points of failure. Placing instances in multiple Availability Zones behind a load balancer ensures that the application remains accessible even if one instance fails.
Distractor review
Scalability
Scalability is the ability of a system to handle growing demand by adding resources. The scenario does not involve increasing capacity to handle more users; it focuses on maintaining uptime during failures.
Distractor review
Fault tolerance
Fault tolerance implies that the system continues to operate without any interruption (zero downtime) even when a component fails. The scenario mentions 'minimal downtime' during failure, which aligns more with high availability than with strict fault tolerance. Achieving true fault tolerance typically requires more complex architecture, such as active-active deployment with real-time replication.
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.
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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: High availability — This scenario demonstrates **high availability**. High availability focuses on ensuring that an application remains operational with minimal downtime by eliminating single points of failure (e.g., running instances in multiple Availability Zones) and using automated recovery mechanisms (e.g., a load balancer redirecting traffic away from a failed instance). In contrast, fault tolerance aims for zero downtime even during a failure, which typically requires more complex design (e.g., active-active configurations with no interruption). Scalability is the ability to handle increased load, and elasticity is the ability to scale resources up or down automatically based on demand. The scenario specifically addresses resilience against failure, not load variation.
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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