- A
Elasticity
Why wrong: Elasticity is the ability to automatically add or remove compute resources in response to changing demand. The scenario does not mention scaling based on load; it focuses on maintaining availability during an Availability Zone failure. Therefore, this option is incorrect.
- B
Scalability
Why wrong: Scalability is the capacity to handle increased workloads by adding resources. While the architecture might be scalable, the primary goal described is availability during a zone failure, not handling increased traffic. Thus, this option is incorrect.
- C
High availability
High availability ensures that applications remain operational with minimal downtime by using redundant components across multiple Availability Zones and a load balancer. This directly matches the company's goal of remaining available even if one zone fails. This option is correct.
- D
Fault tolerance
Why wrong: Fault tolerance is a higher standard than high availability; it aims to keep the system running with zero interruption even when a component fails. The described architecture (standard load balancer and EC2 instances across Availability Zones) is typically associated with high availability, not fault tolerance. Fault-tolerant designs often require more sophisticated failover mechanisms and are less common in standard web applications. Therefore, this option is incorrect.
Quick Answer
The answer is high availability. This architecture demonstrates high availability because it eliminates a single point of failure by deploying redundant Amazon EC2 instances across two Availability Zones, with an Application Load Balancer automatically routing traffic away from a failed zone to healthy instances, ensuring continuous uptime. On the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner CLF-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of the high availability cloud computing concept, often contrasted with fault tolerance or disaster recovery—a common trap is confusing high availability with scalability, but remember that high availability focuses on minimizing downtime through redundancy, not on handling increased load. A useful memory tip: think of high availability as “always on” through duplication across zones, while scalability is “always enough” through adding resources.
CLF-C02 Cloud Concepts Practice Question
This CLF-C02 practice question tests your understanding of cloud concepts. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 deploying a web application on AWS. The application will run on multiple Amazon EC2 instances distributed across two Availability Zones. An Application Load Balancer will distribute incoming traffic across the instances. The company's primary goal is to ensure the application remains available to users even if one Availability Zone experiences a service disruption. Which cloud computing concept does this architecture primarily demonstrate?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"primary"Why it matters: Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
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
High availability
This architecture demonstrates high availability because it uses multiple EC2 instances across two Availability Zones with an Application Load Balancer to distribute traffic. If one AZ fails, the load balancer automatically routes traffic to the healthy instances in the other AZ, ensuring the application remains accessible. High availability focuses on minimizing downtime by eliminating single points of failure through redundancy.
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.
- ✗
Elasticity
Why it's wrong here
Elasticity is the ability to automatically add or remove compute resources in response to changing demand. The scenario does not mention scaling based on load; it focuses on maintaining availability during an Availability Zone failure. Therefore, this option is incorrect.
- ✗
Scalability
Why it's wrong here
Scalability is the capacity to handle increased workloads by adding resources. While the architecture might be scalable, the primary goal described is availability during a zone failure, not handling increased traffic. Thus, this option is incorrect.
- ✓
High availability
Why this is correct
High availability ensures that applications remain operational with minimal downtime by using redundant components across multiple Availability Zones and a load balancer. This directly matches the company's goal of remaining available even if one zone fails. This option is correct.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "primary" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Fault tolerance
Why it's wrong here
Fault tolerance is a higher standard than high availability; it aims to keep the system running with zero interruption even when a component fails. The described architecture (standard load balancer and EC2 instances across Availability Zones) is typically associated with high availability, not fault tolerance. Fault-tolerant designs often require more sophisticated failover mechanisms and are less common in standard web applications. Therefore, this option is incorrect.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse high availability with elasticity or scalability, but the key differentiator is that high availability focuses on redundancy and fault tolerance to prevent downtime, not on dynamic resource adjustment or handling increased load.
Trap categories for this question
Scenario analysis trap
Elasticity is the ability to automatically add or remove compute resources in response to changing demand. The scenario does not mention scaling based on load; it focuses on maintaining availability during an Availability Zone failure. Therefore, this option is incorrect.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, the Application Load Balancer performs health checks on each target (EC2 instance) using HTTP/HTTPS or TCP pings; if an instance in one AZ fails health checks, the ALB automatically deregisters it and stops sending traffic there. In a real-world scenario, combining Auto Scaling groups with a multi-AZ deployment ensures that if an entire AZ goes down, the ALB seamlessly routes traffic to the remaining AZ, and Auto Scaling can launch replacement instances in the healthy AZ to maintain 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
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Cloud Concepts — This question tests Cloud Concepts — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: High availability — This architecture demonstrates high availability because it uses multiple EC2 instances across two Availability Zones with an Application Load Balancer to distribute traffic. If one AZ fails, the load balancer automatically routes traffic to the healthy instances in the other AZ, ensuring the application remains accessible. High availability focuses on minimizing downtime by eliminating single points of failure through redundancy.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "primary". Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
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
2 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 single Amazon EC2 instance. To improve the application's ability to remain operational even if an entire data center becomes unavailable, the company deploys identical application instances across three AWS Availability Zones and places them behind an Application Load Balancer. Which characteristic of cloud computing does this architecture best demonstrate?
medium- A.Elasticity
- ✓ B.High availability
- C.Scalability
- D.Agility
Why B: Deploying identical application instances across three Availability Zones and placing them behind an Application Load Balancer ensures that if an entire data center (AZ) becomes unavailable, traffic is automatically rerouted to healthy instances in the remaining AZs. This architecture directly demonstrates high availability, which is the ability of a system to remain operational despite component failures, by eliminating a single point of failure at the data center level.
Variation 2. A company runs a critical e-commerce application on Amazon EC2 instances distributed across multiple Availability Zones in a single AWS Region. The application is designed so that if an entire Availability Zone experiences an outage, the application continues to serve traffic from the remaining Availability Zones without interruption. Which benefit or characteristic of cloud computing does this scenario BEST represent?
medium- A.Elasticity
- ✓ B.High availability
- C.Scalability
- D.Fault tolerance
Why B: The scenario describes an application that continues to serve traffic without interruption when an entire Availability Zone fails. This is the definition of high availability, which is achieved by distributing EC2 instances across multiple Availability Zones and using an Elastic Load Balancer to route traffic away from failed instances. High availability ensures fault tolerance and minimal downtime, which is a core benefit of cloud computing.
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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