DOP-C02 Monitoring and Logging Practice Question

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

• ✗

  Configure CloudFront to forward all cookies to the origin.

  Why it's wrong here

  Forwarding all cookies to CloudFront forces every cookie name and value to be included in the cache key, so each user's request is cached as a distinct object and shared caching is effectively disabled. This dramatically reduces the cache hit ratio, causing CloudFront to fetch more content from the origin and increasing load and latency. The correct approach is to whitelist only cookies that actually affect the response or to forward none when content is anonymous.

• ✓

  Enable CloudFront Origin Shield to reduce load on the origin and increase cache effectiveness.

  Why this is correct

  Origin Shield is an optional intermediate cache layer that sits between CloudFront edge locations and the origin, aggregating requests from all edges. When multiple edges miss their local cache for the same object, Origin Shield consolidates those requests into a single origin fetch and caches the result globally, raising the effective hit ratio for the entire distribution and reducing origin traffic. It also adds resilience by absorbing request spikes and lowering latency for revalidation.

• ✗

  Decrease the default TTL for objects.

  Why it's wrong here

  Decreasing the default TTL reduces the amount of time CloudFront keeps an object in its edge caches, which forces more frequent revalidation and origin fetches. This not only increases origin load but also lowers the cache hit ratio, making the website slower and increasing the likelihood of bottlenecks. Tuning TTLs upward, not downward, is typically the right lever when content is static and caching is underutilized.

• ✓

  Increase the minimum TTL for the CloudFront distribution.

  Why this is correct

  Increasing the minimum TTL establishes a lower bound for how long CloudFront stores objects even when the origin sends no Cache-Control or Expires headers, or when CloudFront's default caching behavior applies. This extends the effective caching duration for objects, reducing the number of revalidation requests that reach the origin and improving the cache hit ratio. For a slow website serving static assets, this is a simple, high-impact optimization, though you must balance freshness for dynamic content.

• ✓

  Optimize the cache key to include only relevant headers.

  Why this is correct

  The cache key determines which request attributes are used to distinguish cached objects; if extraneous headers are included, CloudFront stores separate copies for identical content, fragmenting the cache. By configuring CloudFront to whitelist only headers that truly influence the response (e.g., Host or Accept-Language), you minimize cache key variation and maximize the probability that subsequent requests hit the cache, reducing origin load and latency.

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