Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A media company processes user-uploaded images. When a user uploads a high-resolution image to an Amazon S3 bucket, the company must automatically generate three resized thumbnail versions (small, medium, large) within seconds. The company wants a solution that requires no infrastructure management and scales automatically to handle thousands of concurrent uploads. Which AWS service should the company use to execute the thumbnail generation code?
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
Run the thumbnailing code on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer
While EC2 instances can execute code, this approach requires manual scaling configuration, ongoing instance management, and a load balancer. It does not automatically react to S3 uploads without additional integration (e.g., S3 event notifications to an Amazon SQS queue that an EC2 instance polls). This adds operational overhead and does not provide the desired serverless, event-driven capability.
B
Best answer
AWS Lambda
AWS Lambda is a serverless function-as-a-service (FaaS) platform that runs code in response to events and automatically manages the underlying compute resources. It can be directly triggered by S3 bucket notifications (e.g., s3:ObjectCreated events). Lambda scales instantly to handle the upload volume and requires no server provisioning, making it ideal for this workload.
C
Distractor review
Amazon ECS with AWS Fargate launch type
Amazon ECS with Fargate is a serverless container orchestrator, but it requires building container images, defining task definitions, and managing a cluster. For a simple image resizing task that is event-driven and short-lived, using containers introduces unnecessary complexity compared to Lambda. Lambda is more suited for this granular, event-triggered workload.
D
Distractor review
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
AWS Elastic Beanstalk is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) that automates the deployment and scaling of web applications. It still provisions underlying EC2 instances and manages the environment. It is not natively event-driven by S3 object creation; it expects a web server to handle HTTP requests. Using it for automated thumbnail generation upon S3 uploads would require additional architectural components and is not as straightforward as a Lambda trigger.
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: AWS Lambda — AWS Lambda is the best choice for this use case because it is a serverless compute service that can be triggered automatically by Amazon S3 events (e.g., object creation). Lambda functions scale automatically from zero to thousands of concurrent executions based on incoming events, and you pay only for the compute time consumed per execution. No servers or clusters need to be provisioned or managed, meeting the requirement for zero infrastructure management.
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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