- A
Amazon CloudFront with Application Load Balancer as the origin
Correct. Amazon CloudFront is a global content delivery network (CDN) that can cache static content at edge locations closer to users. It also supports dynamic content by forwarding requests to the origin, which can be an Application Load Balancer. This meets both the caching and origin integration requirements.
- B
Amazon Route 53 with latency-based routing
Why wrong: Incorrect. Amazon Route 53 with latency-based routing directs user traffic to the region that provides the lowest latency, but it does not cache content at edge locations. Static content would still be served from the origin server, not reducing load times for frequently accessed assets.
- C
AWS Global Accelerator with static IP addresses
Why wrong: Incorrect. AWS Global Accelerator improves performance by directing traffic over the AWS global network to the optimal endpoint, but it does not cache content. It is designed for TCP/UDP traffic and can accelerate both static and dynamic content, but without caching, static assets are not served from edge locations.
- D
Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration
Why wrong: Incorrect. Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration speeds up uploads to S3 buckets over long distances by using AWS edge locations, but it is used for uploading objects to S3, not for serving cached content to end users. It does not integrate with an Application Load Balancer for dynamic content.
Amazon CloudFront with ALB: Hybrid Content Delivery
This CLF-C02 practice question tests your understanding of cloud technology and services. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company hosts an e-commerce website on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer in the us-east-1 Region. The website includes both static assets (product images, CSS files) and dynamic content (user-specific cart data). The company has customers all over the world who complain about slow page load times. The company wants to reduce latency by caching static content closer to users while still allowing dynamic requests to reach the origin. Which AWS service should the company use to meet these requirements?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Amazon CloudFront with Application Load Balancer as the origin
Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) that caches static content (e.g., images, CSS) at edge locations worldwide, reducing latency for users. By configuring the Application Load Balancer as the origin, CloudFront forwards dynamic requests (e.g., cart data) to the ALB, which then routes them to the EC2 instances. This hybrid approach meets the requirement to cache static assets globally while allowing dynamic content to be processed by the origin servers.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Amazon CloudFront with Application Load Balancer as the origin
Why this is correct
Correct. Amazon CloudFront is a global content delivery network (CDN) that can cache static content at edge locations closer to users. It also supports dynamic content by forwarding requests to the origin, which can be an Application Load Balancer. This meets both the caching and origin integration requirements.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Amazon Route 53 with latency-based routing
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Amazon Route 53 with latency-based routing directs user traffic to the region that provides the lowest latency, but it does not cache content at edge locations. Static content would still be served from the origin server, not reducing load times for frequently accessed assets.
When this WOULD be correct
A company has multiple EC2 origins in different AWS regions and wants to route users to the region with the lowest latency for dynamic content, without needing content caching or edge optimization.
- ✗
AWS Global Accelerator with static IP addresses
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. AWS Global Accelerator improves performance by directing traffic over the AWS global network to the optimal endpoint, but it does not cache content. It is designed for TCP/UDP traffic and can accelerate both static and dynamic content, but without caching, static assets are not served from edge locations.
When this WOULD be correct
A company needs to improve availability and performance for a global user base by directing traffic to the nearest healthy endpoint (e.g., EC2 instances in multiple regions) using static IP addresses as a fixed entry point, without requiring content caching.
- ✗
Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration speeds up uploads to S3 buckets over long distances by using AWS edge locations, but it is used for uploading objects to S3, not for serving cached content to end users. It does not integrate with an Application Load Balancer for dynamic content.
When this WOULD be correct
A company needs to accelerate uploads of large files (e.g., video content, backups) to an S3 bucket from geographically distributed users, and the primary requirement is faster transfer speeds over long distances.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The CLF-C02 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓Amazon CloudFront with Application Load Balancer as the originCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
Correct. Amazon CloudFront is a global content delivery network (CDN) that can cache static content at edge locations closer to users. It also supports dynamic content by forwarding requests to the origin, which can be an Application Load Balancer. This meets both the caching and origin integration requirements.
✗Amazon Route 53 with latency-based routingWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Route 53 latency-based routing directs traffic to the nearest region but does not cache static content at edge locations; it still requires requests to travel to the origin, failing to reduce latency for static assets globally.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company has multiple EC2 origins in different AWS regions and wants to route users to the region with the lowest latency for dynamic content, without needing content caching or edge optimization.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse latency-based routing with edge caching, thinking that routing to the nearest region alone will solve latency issues for static content, but it does not provide the caching benefits of a CDN.
✗AWS Global Accelerator with static IP addressesWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
AWS Global Accelerator improves performance by routing traffic over the AWS global network to the optimal endpoint, but it does not cache static content at edge locations. It still forwards all requests to the origin, so it does not reduce latency for static assets as effectively as CloudFront's edge caching.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company needs to improve availability and performance for a global user base by directing traffic to the nearest healthy endpoint (e.g., EC2 instances in multiple regions) using static IP addresses as a fixed entry point, without requiring content caching.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse Global Accelerator's edge-based routing with CloudFront's caching capabilities, assuming any edge service can cache content, or they may focus on the 'static IP' requirement mentioned in some scenarios.
✗Amazon S3 Transfer AccelerationWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration speeds up uploads to S3 over long distances, but it does not cache content at edge locations or serve as a CDN for static assets. It cannot reduce latency for user requests to an ALB-hosted website.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company needs to accelerate uploads of large files (e.g., video content, backups) to an S3 bucket from geographically distributed users, and the primary requirement is faster transfer speeds over long distances.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse 'acceleration' with content delivery, assuming Transfer Acceleration can cache static assets globally, when it only optimizes uploads to S3, not downloads or caching.
Analysis generated from the official CLF-C02blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse AWS Global Accelerator's network optimization (which only reduces latency for all traffic via the AWS backbone) with CloudFront's caching capability, mistakenly thinking Global Accelerator can cache static content when it cannot.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
CloudFront supports both cache behaviors and origin groups, allowing you to define path patterns (e.g., /images/*) to cache static content at edge locations while forwarding other requests (e.g., /cart/*) to the ALB. Under the hood, CloudFront uses HTTP/2 and TLS termination at the edge, and it can serve cached content directly from the edge cache (e.g., 10,000+ edge locations) without hitting the origin, reducing latency by up to 50% for static assets. A real-world scenario: an e-commerce site with product images cached at the edge can load them in under 100ms for users in Asia, while dynamic cart data still takes 300ms from the origin in us-east-1.
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.
TExam Day Tips
- 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.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Cloud Technology and Services — This question tests Cloud Technology and Services — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Amazon CloudFront with Application Load Balancer as the origin — Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) that caches static content (e.g., images, CSS) at edge locations worldwide, reducing latency for users. By configuring the Application Load Balancer as the origin, CloudFront forwards dynamic requests (e.g., cart data) to the ALB, which then routes them to the EC2 instances. This hybrid approach meets the requirement to cache static assets globally while allowing dynamic content to be processed by the origin servers.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more ways this is tested on CLF-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company runs a web application on a fleet of Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application serves dynamic content that changes frequently, but also serves static assets (CSS, JavaScript, images) that change rarely. The company wants to improve the overall performance and reduce the load on the EC2 instances by caching the static assets at edge locations while still routing dynamic requests to the ALB. Which combination of AWS services should the company use?
medium- ✓ A.Use Amazon CloudFront with the ALB as the origin, and configure CloudFront to cache the static assets while forwarding dynamic requests to the ALB.
- B.Use Amazon Route 53 with latency-based routing to direct users to the closest ALB endpoint.
- C.Use Amazon S3 to host the entire application, and use the ALB to route traffic to the S3 bucket.
- D.Use AWS Global Accelerator to distribute traffic across multiple ALBs in different AWS Regions.
Why A: Amazon CloudFront can be configured with the ALB as the origin, allowing it to cache static assets (CSS, JavaScript, images) at edge locations while forwarding dynamic requests to the ALB. This reduces latency for users by serving cached content from the nearest edge location and offloads the EC2 instances from handling repeated requests for static files. CloudFront supports path-based caching behaviors, so you can define specific URL patterns (e.g., /static/*) to cache and others to forward directly to the ALB.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This CLF-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CLF-C02 exam.
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