- A
Target tracking scaling policy
Why wrong: Target tracking adjusts capacity based on a metric like CPU, not health.
- B
Default health check replacement
Auto Scaling automatically terminates unhealthy instances and launches new ones based on the health check configuration.
- C
Step scaling policy
Why wrong: Step scaling adjusts based on metric thresholds, not health status.
- D
Manual scaling
Why wrong: Manual scaling requires human intervention to replace instances.
Question 829 of 1,750
DOP-C02 Incident and Event Response Practice Question
This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of incident and event response. 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 DevOps team is configuring an Auto Scaling group for a web application behind an Application Load Balancer. The team wants to automatically replace instances that fail the health check. Which scaling policy should be used?
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
✓
Default health check replacement
Option B is correct because the Auto Scaling group's default health check replacement behavior automatically terminates and replaces any instance that fails the configured health check (either EC2 status checks or ELB health checks). When an Application Load Balancer marks an instance as unhealthy, the Auto Scaling group detects this via the ELB health check integration and launches a new instance to maintain the desired capacity. This is the simplest and most direct mechanism for replacing failed instances without additional scaling policies.
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.
- ✗
Target tracking scaling policy
Why it's wrong here
Target tracking adjusts capacity based on a metric like CPU, not health.
- ✓
Default health check replacement
Why this is correct
Auto Scaling automatically terminates unhealthy instances and launches new ones based on the health check configuration.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Step scaling policy
Why it's wrong here
Step scaling adjusts based on metric thresholds, not health status.
- ✗
Manual scaling
Why it's wrong here
Manual scaling requires human intervention to replace instances.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse scaling policies (which adjust capacity based on load metrics) with health check replacement (which is a built-in, automatic behavior of the Auto Scaling group, not a separate scaling policy).
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, the Auto Scaling group uses the health check grace period (default 300 seconds) to allow an instance to boot before health checks begin. If an instance fails the ELB health check (e.g., HTTP 5xx or connection timeout), the Auto Scaling group marks it as unhealthy and immediately terminates it, then launches a replacement. A subtle behavior is that if you use both EC2 and ELB health checks, the instance must pass both to be considered healthy; failure of either triggers replacement. In real-world scenarios, misconfigured health check paths or overly short grace periods can cause unnecessary instance churn.
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 cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
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.
- →
Incident and Event Response — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this DOP-C02 question test?
Incident and Event Response — This question tests Incident and Event Response — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Default health check replacement — Option B is correct because the Auto Scaling group's default health check replacement behavior automatically terminates and replaces any instance that fails the configured health check (either EC2 status checks or ELB health checks). When an Application Load Balancer marks an instance as unhealthy, the Auto Scaling group detects this via the ELB health check integration and launches a new instance to maintain the desired capacity. This is the simplest and most direct mechanism for replacing failed instances without additional scaling policies.
What should I do if I get this DOP-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: Jul 4, 2026
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