CLF-C02 Cloud Technology and Services Practice Question
A company wants to improve the performance of their global application by caching API responses closer to end users. Which AWS service provides an API proxy with built-in caching and CloudFront integration?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates assume CloudFront alone provides API proxy capabilities, but CloudFront is a CDN and lacks the API management features (e.g., request validation, throttling, caching at the API level) that API Gateway offers.
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 API Gateway
Amazon API Gateway is correct because it provides a fully managed API proxy that can cache responses at the API endpoint level, reducing latency and backend load. It also natively integrates with Amazon CloudFront, allowing cached API responses to be distributed globally via CloudFront's edge locations for even lower latency.
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 alone
Why it's wrong here
Amazon CloudFront alone is a content delivery network that caches HTTP responses at edge locations and can serve static or dynamic content with Lambda@Edge for lightweight customization. Yet it lacks essential API management features such as per-client rate limiting, API key validation, usage plans, authentication authorizers, or native request/response mapping. CloudFront can accelerate and cache an API, but it must be used in front of a service like API Gateway rather than replace it as the API management layer.
- ✗
Elastic Load Balancing
Why it's wrong here
Elastic Load Balancing operates at the request or connection level, distributing traffic across registered targets like EC2 instances or IP addresses. It provides L4/L7 routing, health checks, and connection draining, but it does not offer API-specific management such as API key validation, usage plans, request/response transformation, or built-in response caching. Without these capabilities, ELB cannot act as a full API management layer, making it incorrect for this scenario.
- ✓
Amazon API Gateway
Why this is correct
Amazon API Gateway is a fully managed service designed specifically for creating, publishing, maintaining, monitoring, and securing APIs at scale. It supports REST and HTTP APIs and includes native features like caching with configurable TTLs, throttling and quotas via usage plans, authentication through IAM, Cognito, or Lambda authorizers, and request/response mapping. Its native CloudFront integration allows global edge distribution while retaining API management controls, making it the correct answer for a general-purpose API solution.
- ✗
AWS AppSync
Why it's wrong here
AWS AppSync is a managed GraphQL service that uses resolvers to connect to data sources and supports real-time subscriptions, along with some level of per-resolver caching and CDN integration. However, it is purpose-built for GraphQL APIs and does not provide the same REST-centric API management features as API Gateway, such as REST resource modeling, usage plans, API keys, or full request/response transformation. For a general-purpose REST/HTTP API, AppSync is not the appropriate choice.
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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.