CLF-C02 Cloud Technology and Services Practice Question
Which AWS service provides a domain name system (DNS) that routes end-user requests to AWS infrastructure and external resources?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse a content delivery network (CloudFront) or a traffic accelerator (Global Accelerator) with a DNS service, since both can improve performance and route traffic, but only Route 53 provides actual domain name resolution and DNS record management.
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 Route 53
Amazon Route 53 is a highly available and scalable cloud Domain Name System (DNS) web service. It is designed to route end-user requests to AWS infrastructure (such as EC2 instances, ELBs, and S3 buckets) and to external resources by translating human-readable domain names into IP addresses. This directly matches the question's requirement for a DNS-based routing service.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS Global Accelerator
Why it's wrong here
AWS Global Accelerator operates at the network layer, using anycast static IPs at AWS edge locations to route TCP/UDP traffic over the AWS global backbone for improved latency and throughput. It does not translate human-readable domain names into IP addresses, nor does it maintain DNS zone records, so it cannot serve as a DNS service. DNS resolution is a prerequisite before any traffic can even reach a Global Accelerator endpoint, and that resolution is performed by a service like Route 53.
- ✗
Amazon CloudFront
Why it's wrong here
Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) that caches static and dynamic content at edge locations to reduce latency for end users. Its core function is caching and delivering HTTP/S content, not answering DNS queries, maintaining zone files, or performing authoritative name resolution. While a CloudFront distribution is assigned a DNS name, the DNS lookup for that name is handled by Route 53 or another DNS provider; CloudFront itself is not a DNS service.
- ✓
Amazon Route 53
Why this is correct
Amazon Route 53 is AWS's fully managed Domain Name System (DNS) service, providing authoritative name resolution, domain registration, and a rich set of routing policies such as latency-based, geolocation, weighted, and failover routing with health checks. It is uniquely designed to answer DNS queries by mapping domain names to IP addresses or AWS resource endpoints, and its name refers to the standard DNS port 53. As a result, it is the only option in this list that provides the core DNS functionality the question demands.
- ✗
Elastic Load Balancing
Why it's wrong here
Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) distributes incoming application or network traffic across multiple targets such as EC2 instances in one or more Availability Zones, enabling fault tolerance and scalability. Each load balancer is assigned a DNS name for clients to connect to, but ELB does not resolve your domain names or host a zone; it relies on an external DNS service like Route 53 to route traffic to that DNS name. ELB is an L4/L7 traffic distribution mechanism, not an authoritative nameserver or DNS resolver.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
Related to this question
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way 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. Which AWS service is used to register domain names and route DNS queries for domain names like 'example.com'?
easy- A.Amazon CloudFront
- B.AWS Global Accelerator
- ✓ C.Amazon Route 53
- D.AWS Certificate Manager
Why C: Amazon Route 53 is a scalable Domain Name System (DNS) web service that provides both domain name registration and DNS resolution. It translates human-readable domain names like 'example.com' into IP addresses and can also register new domains or transfer existing ones. This dual functionality makes it the correct choice for the question.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.