This ANS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of network design. 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 designing a multi-Region Active-Active architecture with an Application Load Balancer (ALB) in us-east-1 and us-west-2. They want to route users to the nearest healthy endpoint using a custom domain name. Which AWS service should they use to accomplish this with the lowest latency and minimal operational overhead?
Use Amazon Route 53 latency-based routing with health checks.
Latency-based routing directs traffic to the region with the lowest latency, and health checks ensure availability.
B
Use Amazon Route 53 geolocation routing policy.
Why wrong: Geolocation routing routes based on the user's geographic location, not on latency.
C
Use AWS Global Accelerator with endpoint groups in each region.
Why wrong: Global Accelerator uses static IPs and anycast but is not a DNS routing policy; latency-based routing is more suitable for this requirement.
D
Use Amazon Route 53 weighted routing policy.
Why wrong: Weighted routing distributes traffic based on weights, not latency or health.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use Amazon Route 53 latency-based routing with health checks.
Amazon Route 53 latency-based routing directs user traffic to the AWS region that provides the lowest latency for the end user, based on latency measurements between DNS resolvers and AWS endpoints. Combined with health checks, it automatically routes users away from unhealthy ALBs, meeting the requirement for nearest healthy endpoint with minimal operational overhead since it is a fully managed DNS service with no additional infrastructure to deploy.
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 Route 53 latency-based routing with health checks.
Why this is correct
Latency-based routing directs traffic to the region with the lowest latency, and health checks ensure availability.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use Amazon Route 53 geolocation routing policy.
Why it's wrong here
Geolocation routing routes based on the user's geographic location, not on latency.
✗
Use AWS Global Accelerator with endpoint groups in each region.
Why it's wrong here
Global Accelerator uses static IPs and anycast but is not a DNS routing policy; latency-based routing is more suitable for this requirement.
✗
Use Amazon Route 53 weighted routing policy.
Why it's wrong here
Weighted routing distributes traffic based on weights, not latency or health.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
AWS often tests the distinction between latency-based routing (which optimizes for actual network performance) and geolocation routing (which optimizes for geographic compliance or content localization), leading candidates to confuse the two when the requirement is 'nearest healthy endpoint' rather than 'route by location.'
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Route 53 latency-based routing uses a global network of DNS resolvers to measure round-trip time (RTT) to AWS regions, updating latency data every 30 seconds. Under the hood, it selects the region with the lowest latency for the requesting resolver, not the end user, which can cause slight inaccuracies for users behind large ISP resolvers; however, for most use cases, this provides near-optimal routing without the need for client-side logic or additional infrastructure.
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.
Network Design — This question tests Network Design — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use Amazon Route 53 latency-based routing with health checks. — Amazon Route 53 latency-based routing directs user traffic to the AWS region that provides the lowest latency for the end user, based on latency measurements between DNS resolvers and AWS endpoints. Combined with health checks, it automatically routes users away from unhealthy ALBs, meeting the requirement for nearest healthy endpoint with minimal operational overhead since it is a fully managed DNS service with no additional infrastructure to deploy.
What should I do if I get this ANS-C01 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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Question Discussion
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