The correct approach is to deploy a second API Gateway and Lambda function in another Region, use DynamoDB global tables for data replication, and configure Route 53 with a failover routing policy. This combination ensures that when a health check detects a primary Region failure, DNS traffic is automatically rerouted to the standby Region, while DynamoDB global tables provide active-active data replication so the secondary Lambda function can read and write the same data with eventual consistency. On the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional DOP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of stateless application design and cross-Region failover patterns—a common trap is forgetting that Lambda and API Gateway are regional services, so you must explicitly deploy them in each Region rather than relying on a single endpoint. A key memory tip is “three R’s for resilience: Route 53, Replicated data, and Redundant compute.”
DOP-C02 Resilient Cloud Solutions Practice Question
This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of resilient cloud solutions. 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 is deploying a serverless application using AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, and Amazon DynamoDB. The application must be resilient to regional outages. Which THREE steps should the company take to achieve multi-Region resilience? (Choose THREE.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Configure Route 53 with a failover routing policy to direct traffic to the secondary Region if the primary fails.
Option B is correct because Amazon Route 53 with a failover routing policy allows the company to route traffic to a secondary Region when health checks detect a failure in the primary Region. This provides DNS-level failover, which is a fundamental component of multi-Region resilience for HTTP-based applications.
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.
✗
Use Amazon CloudFront with multiple origins pointing to each Region's API Gateway.
Why it's wrong here
CloudFront is for content delivery, not for regional failover of API endpoints directly.
✓
Configure Route 53 with a failover routing policy to direct traffic to the secondary Region if the primary fails.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Use DynamoDB global tables to replicate data across Regions.
Why this is correct
Global tables provide active-active replication for resilience.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Deploy Lambda@Edge functions to handle requests at edge locations.
Why it's wrong here
Lambda@Edge runs at edge, not in a secondary Region.
✓
Deploy a second API Gateway and Lambda function in another Region.
Why this is correct
Deploying compute in a second Region provides redundancy.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse CloudFront's origin failover capability (which requires manual configuration of origin groups) with automatic multi-Region failover, or they mistakenly believe Lambda@Edge can serve as a full application backend across Regions, when in fact it is limited to edge processing and cannot replace regional Lambda deployments.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
DynamoDB global tables use a multi-master, active-active replication model that automatically replicates data across selected AWS Regions with eventual consistency, providing sub-second replication latency in most cases. Route 53 failover routing relies on health checks that can monitor API Gateway endpoints via HTTP/S or TCP, and when a health check fails, Route 53 updates DNS responses to point to the secondary Region's endpoint, typically within the DNS TTL (e.g., 60 seconds).
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.
Resilient Cloud Solutions — This question tests Resilient Cloud Solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Configure Route 53 with a failover routing policy to direct traffic to the secondary Region if the primary fails. — Option B is correct because Amazon Route 53 with a failover routing policy allows the company to route traffic to a secondary Region when health checks detect a failure in the primary Region. This provides DNS-level failover, which is a fundamental component of multi-Region resilience for HTTP-based applications.
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.
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 →
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 is designing a serverless application using AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, and Amazon DynamoDB. The application must tolerate a Regional failure. Which design provides the most resilience?
medium
A.Use Lambda@Edge to run functions at AWS edge locations
B.Use DynamoDB auto-scaling and run Lambda in a single Region
✓ C.Use DynamoDB global tables with Lambda functions deployed in multiple Regions and Route 53 multi-Region routing
D.Use DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) to cache data across Regions
Why C: Option C is correct because DynamoDB global tables provide multi-Region, fully replicated tables with automatic conflict resolution, ensuring data availability during a Regional outage. Deploying Lambda functions in multiple Regions with Route 53 multi-Region routing (using health checks and latency-based or weighted routing) allows traffic to fail over to a healthy Region, making the entire serverless stack resilient to a Regional failure.
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
This DOP-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 DOP-C02 exam.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.