Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A developer is building a REST API with Amazon API Gateway and needs to authorize requests based on a custom JSON Web Token (JWT) that includes claims for user roles. Which authorization mechanism should the developer use?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Best answer
Lambda authorizer
A Lambda authorizer can validate custom tokens and return an IAM policy based on JWT claims, offering full control over authorization logic.
B
Distractor review
IAM authorizer
IAM authorizer uses Signature Version 4 and AWS IAM permissions, not custom JWT tokens; it is designed for AWS-signed requests.
C
Distractor review
Amazon Cognito user pools authorizer
Cognito user pools can generate JWTs but require the token to be from a Cognito user pool; they do not support custom non-Cognito JWTs.
D
Distractor review
API Gateway resource policy
Resource policies control access based on IP addresses or AWS accounts, not token-based authorization.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: authentication is not authorization
Logging in proves the user can authenticate. It does not automatically mean the user is allowed to enter privileged or configuration mode. Watch for AAA authorization, privilege level and command authorization details.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This kind of question is testing the difference between identity and permission. A user may successfully log in to a router because authentication is working, but still fail to enter configuration mode because authorization is missing, misconfigured or mapped to a lower privilege level.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Authentication checks who the user is.
- Authorization controls what the user is allowed to do after login.
- Privilege levels affect access to EXEC and configuration commands.
- AAA, TACACS+ and RADIUS can separate login success from command access.
TExam Day Tips
- Do not assume successful login means full administrative access.
- Look for words such as cannot enter configuration mode, privilege level, authorization or command access.
- Separate login problems from permission problems before choosing the answer.
Related practice questions
Related DVA-C02 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A developer is building a REST API using Amazon API Gateway that will serve static content from an Amazon S3 bucket. The API should cache responses for frequently accessed objects to reduce latency. Which API Gateway feature should the developer enable?
Question 2
A developer is running a web application on multiple Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application needs to store user session state that must be available across all instances. The session data is small and temporary but must survive individual instance failures. Which AWS service should the developer use to store this session state?
Question 3
A developer has an AWS Lambda function that processes messages from an Amazon SQS standard queue. The function is idempotent and currently has a batch size of 10. The developer wants to increase throughput and increases the batch size to 100. After the change, CloudWatch metrics show a significant increase in throttles and the queue backlog is growing. The function's reserved concurrency is set to 10. What is the most effective action to resolve the throttling and improve throughput?
Question 4
A developer is managing an application running on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. Users report that the application becomes unresponsive after several hours, and restarting the instance temporarily fixes the issue. The developer suspects a memory leak but cannot add custom instrumentation. Which AWS service can collect memory utilization metrics and help identify the memory leak with minimal configuration?
Question 5
A developer is building a serverless web application using AWS Lambda and Amazon DynamoDB. The application needs to perform complex aggregations on data stored in DynamoDB. Which AWS service should the developer use to perform these aggregations efficiently without reading all the data into Lambda?
Question 6
A developer has an Amazon S3 bucket containing private user documents. The application must generate a time-limited URL for users to download their own documents without requiring the users to have AWS credentials. Which solution should the developer use?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this DVA-C02 question test?
Authentication checks who the user is.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Lambda authorizer — A Lambda authorizer (formerly custom authorizer) allows you to write a Lambda function that validates a JWT and returns an IAM policy to authorize the request. This is the most flexible option for custom token validation. Cognito user pools and IAM authorizers do not support custom JWT validation without additional configuration.
What should I do if I get this DVA-C02 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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