A company runs its production web application on a single Amazon EC2 instance located in one Availability Zone. Recently, a power outage in that data center caused the instance to become unavailable, resulting in application downtime. The company wants to redesign the architecture so that the application automatically continues serving users even if a single data center fails, without requiring manual intervention. Which cloud computing concept does this scenario BEST illustrate?
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 is the ability to dynamically scale computing resources up and down based on demand. While important for handling traffic changes, it does not directly address maintaining operation during a data center failure.
Best answer
High availability
High availability refers to systems that are designed to be operational and accessible for a high percentage of time by eliminating single points of failure. Deploying across multiple Availability Zones is a common practice in AWS to achieve high availability.
Distractor review
On-demand self-service
On-demand self-service allows users to provision and configure resources automatically, without requiring human interaction with service providers. This is about instant resource provisioning, not continued operation during failures.
Distractor review
Broad network access
Broad network access means that cloud resources are accessible over the network through standard mechanisms (e.g., internet, VPN). This is about connectivity, not resilience against data center outages.
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: High availability — This scenario describes the need for the application to remain operational despite a failure in a single data center. Deploying the application across multiple Availability Zones, with resources in each zone, ensures that if one zone fails, the other zones continue to serve traffic. This ability of a system to continue functioning, with minimal or no interruption, when a component fails is a key cloud computing concept known as high availability. Cloud platforms like AWS provide the building blocks (e.g., multiple Availability Zones, Elastic Load Balancing, Auto Scaling) to architect highly available systems. Elasticity refers to automatically scaling resources up/down based on demand. On-demand self-service means users can provision resources without human interaction. Broad network access means resources are accessible over the network via standard protocols. These are important but do not address failure tolerance.
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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