- A
Amazon EC2
Why wrong: EC2 requires provisioning instances and paying for them whether or not they are processing images. For sporadic, event-driven tasks, EC2 is over-engineered and more expensive.
- B
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Why wrong: Elastic Beanstalk manages server infrastructure but still provisions EC2 instances. It is designed for persistent web applications, not short event-triggered code executions.
- C
AWS Lambda
Lambda is the ideal solution for event-driven, short-lived tasks like image processing. It is triggered by S3 events, runs the code, and charges only for execution time in millisecond increments. No servers to manage.
- D
Amazon ECS
Why wrong: ECS runs containerised workloads and requires either EC2 instances or Fargate tasks. While Fargate is serverless, ECS is designed for long-running container workloads, not sub-minute event-triggered functions.
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 wants to run code that automatically resizes images whenever a new image is uploaded to an Amazon S3 bucket. The code runs for less than 60 seconds per image. The company wants to pay only for the compute time used and does not want to provision or manage any servers. Which AWS service best meets 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
AWS Lambda
AWS Lambda is the correct choice because it is a serverless compute service that runs code in response to events, such as an S3 object creation event, and automatically scales. It charges only for the compute time consumed (rounded to the nearest 1 ms) and requires no server provisioning or management. The 60-second execution limit per invocation is well within the 15-minute maximum duration of Lambda, making it ideal for short-lived image resizing tasks.
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 EC2
Why it's wrong here
EC2 requires provisioning instances and paying for them whether or not they are processing images. For sporadic, event-driven tasks, EC2 is over-engineered and more expensive.
- ✗
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Why it's wrong here
Elastic Beanstalk manages server infrastructure but still provisions EC2 instances. It is designed for persistent web applications, not short event-triggered code executions.
- ✓
AWS Lambda
Why this is correct
Lambda is the ideal solution for event-driven, short-lived tasks like image processing. It is triggered by S3 events, runs the code, and charges only for execution time in millisecond increments. No servers to manage.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Amazon ECS
Why it's wrong here
ECS runs containerised workloads and requires either EC2 instances or Fargate tasks. While Fargate is serverless, ECS is designed for long-running container workloads, not sub-minute event-triggered functions.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may choose AWS Elastic Beanstalk because it automates deployment and scaling, but they overlook that it still runs on EC2 instances that incur costs continuously, not per execution, and does not provide the event-driven, pay-per-use billing model required by the question.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, AWS Lambda integrates with S3 via event notifications using the S3:ObjectCreated:* event type, which triggers the Lambda function asynchronously. The function receives the S3 bucket and object key in the event payload, allowing it to download the image, resize it using a library like Pillow, and upload the result back to S3. A real-world scenario is a photo-sharing app that automatically generates thumbnails; Lambda's concurrency limits (default 1,000 per region) must be considered to avoid throttling during high upload volumes.
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.
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 |
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: AWS Lambda — AWS Lambda is the correct choice because it is a serverless compute service that runs code in response to events, such as an S3 object creation event, and automatically scales. It charges only for the compute time consumed (rounded to the nearest 1 ms) and requires no server provisioning or management. The 60-second execution limit per invocation is well within the 15-minute maximum duration of Lambda, making it ideal for short-lived image resizing tasks.
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.
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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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