Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company runs a read-heavy web application that retrieves the same product catalog data from an Amazon RDS database hundreds of times per second. The database is experiencing high CPU utilization due to repeated reads of the same information. The company wants to reduce the load on the database and improve application response time without modifying the application code or adding more database capacity. The solution must be fully managed and provide a low-latency, in-memory cache for frequently accessed data. Which AWS service should the company use?
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
Amazon CloudFront
Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) that caches static and dynamic web content at edge locations. It can accelerate delivery of web pages and media files, but it cannot be used as an in-memory data cache for database query results that are generated by the backend application. CloudFront does not integrate directly with RDS and requires the application to set Cache-Control headers; it does not provide a transparent caching layer for database reads.
B
Best answer
Amazon ElastiCache
Amazon ElastiCache is a fully managed, in-memory caching service that supports Memcached and Redis. It can be used to cache the results of frequently executed database queries, reducing the load on the RDS instance and improving application latency. The application can be configured to check the cache first before querying the database, which does not require modifying the core application logic if designed appropriately. This is the correct solution for offloading read traffic from the database.
C
Distractor review
Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX)
Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) is an in-memory cache specifically designed for Amazon DynamoDB. It cannot be used to cache data from an Amazon RDS database. DAX only works with tables in DynamoDB and does not support caching relational database queries.
D
Distractor review
Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS)
Amazon SQS is a fully managed message queuing service used to decouple and buffer requests between application components. It does not provide in-memory caching capabilities and will not reduce the read load on a database. Using SQS would change the architecture to asynchronous processing, not improve read performance.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
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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?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Amazon ElastiCache — Amazon ElastiCache is a fully managed, in-memory caching service that can be used to cache the results of database queries or other data. By caching frequently accessed data, it reduces the read load on the primary database and lowers latency for the application. Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) that caches static and dynamic web content at edge locations, but it is not designed to cache application-level database query results and cannot be transparently integrated as a data cache for an RDS-backed application. AWS WAF is a web application firewall that protects against web exploits, not a caching solution. Amazon SQS is a message queuing service for decoupling components, not for caching. Therefore, Amazon ElastiCache is the correct service for this scenario.
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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