- A
Amazon ECS with Amazon EC2 launch type
Why wrong: This option requires the team to manage and scale EC2 instances, including patching and capacity planning. It does not meet the requirement to avoid managing servers.
- B
Amazon ECS with AWS Fargate launch type
AWS Fargate is a serverless compute engine for containers. It automatically provisions and scales the underlying infrastructure, so the team does not have to manage servers. It integrates with ECS, ALB, RDS, and other AWS services.
- C
AWS Lambda
Why wrong: AWS Lambda is designed for event-driven functions, not for running Docker containers. While Lambda supports container images, it is not intended for long-running microservices and has limitations on execution time and size.
- D
Amazon EC2 instances with Docker installed
Why wrong: This option requires the team to manually provision, patch, and scale EC2 instances, as well as manage Docker. It does not meet the requirement to minimize server management.
Quick Answer
The answer is Amazon ECS with the AWS Fargate launch type. This is the correct choice because Fargate is a serverless compute engine for containers that completely eliminates the need to provision, patch, or manage underlying servers, directly addressing the requirement to run containers without managing infrastructure. It automatically scales containerized applications based on demand and natively integrates with services like Application Load Balancer and Amazon RDS, making it ideal for microservices architectures. On the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner CLF-C02 exam, this question tests your understanding of the difference between EC2-based container management and serverless options; a common trap is selecting Amazon ECS with EC2 launch type, which still requires you to manage the underlying instances. Remember the memory tip: Fargate = “Farewell to servers” — if the scenario says “no server management,” always look for Fargate as the launch type.
CLF-C02 Cloud Technology and Services Practice Question
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 is refactoring its legacy application into a microservices architecture using Docker containers. The operations team wants to deploy and manage these containers on AWS without the need to provision, patch, or manage the underlying servers. The solution must automatically scale containers based on demand and integrate with services like Application Load Balancer and Amazon RDS. Which AWS compute service should the company use?
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 ECS with AWS Fargate launch type
Amazon ECS with AWS Fargate launch type is the correct choice because it is a serverless compute engine for containers that eliminates the need to provision, patch, or manage underlying servers. Fargate automatically scales containers based on demand and integrates natively with services like Application Load Balancer and Amazon RDS, meeting all the stated requirements.
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 ECS with Amazon EC2 launch type
Why it's wrong here
This option requires the team to manage and scale EC2 instances, including patching and capacity planning. It does not meet the requirement to avoid managing servers.
- ✓
Amazon ECS with AWS Fargate launch type
Why this is correct
AWS Fargate is a serverless compute engine for containers. It automatically provisions and scales the underlying infrastructure, so the team does not have to manage servers. It integrates with ECS, ALB, RDS, and other AWS services.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
AWS Lambda
Why it's wrong here
AWS Lambda is designed for event-driven functions, not for running Docker containers. While Lambda supports container images, it is not intended for long-running microservices and has limitations on execution time and size.
- ✗
Amazon EC2 instances with Docker installed
Why it's wrong here
This option requires the team to manually provision, patch, and scale EC2 instances, as well as manage Docker. It does not meet the requirement to minimize server management.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse the EC2 launch type (which still requires server management) with Fargate (which is serverless), or mistakenly think AWS Lambda can run Docker containers as a full microservice platform, ignoring its execution time and invocation model limitations.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
AWS Fargate abstracts the underlying infrastructure by allocating CPU and memory resources per task definition, allowing containers to run without managing EC2 instances. It integrates with Amazon ECS service auto-scaling using target tracking policies based on CloudWatch metrics, and with Application Load Balancer via target groups that route traffic directly to Fargate tasks. In a real-world scenario, a company refactoring a legacy monolith into microservices would benefit from Fargate's per-task billing and isolation, avoiding the operational overhead of patching the host OS or managing cluster capacity.
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
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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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 ECS with AWS Fargate launch type — Amazon ECS with AWS Fargate launch type is the correct choice because it is a serverless compute engine for containers that eliminates the need to provision, patch, or manage underlying servers. Fargate automatically scales containers based on demand and integrates natively with services like Application Load Balancer and Amazon RDS, meeting all the stated requirements.
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 development team is migrating a monolithic application to a microservices architecture. Each microservice will run in a separate container. The team wants to deploy and scale these containers without managing any underlying servers or clusters. The team also wants to pay only for the vCPU and memory resources consumed by each container, not for any idle capacity. Which AWS compute service should the team use?
medium- A.Amazon ECS with the EC2 launch type
- ✓ B.AWS Fargate
- C.Amazon EKS with managed node groups
- D.AWS Lambda
Why B: AWS Fargate is the correct choice because it is a serverless compute engine for containers that allows you to run containers without managing any underlying servers or clusters. With Fargate, you pay only for the vCPU and memory resources consumed by each container, not for any idle capacity, which directly matches the team's requirements.
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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