- A
Use a cluster placement group across two Availability Zones.
Why wrong: Cluster placement groups cannot span multiple Availability Zones.
- B
Do not use a placement group; enable Enhanced Networking (ENA) on all instances.
Placement groups are limited to single AZ for low latency; Enhanced Networking provides low latency across AZs without placement group constraints.
- C
Use a spread placement group across two Availability Zones.
Why wrong: Spread placement groups are designed to reduce risk of simultaneous failure, not for low latency.
- D
Use a partition placement group across two Availability Zones.
Why wrong: Partition placement groups are for large distributed systems, not for low latency.
Question 830 of 1,705
Does a Placement Group Improve Latency Across AZs?
This ANS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of network design. 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 company is deploying a critical application that requires low latency between EC2 instances in the same AWS region but across multiple Availability Zones. The instances are part of an Auto Scaling group behind a Network Load Balancer. Which network design provides the lowest latency while maintaining high availability?
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
✓
Do not use a placement group; enable Enhanced Networking (ENA) on all instances.
Option B is correct because Enhanced Networking (ENA) provides the highest possible packet-per-second performance and lowest latency by offloading network processing to dedicated hardware on the instance. Since the application requires low latency across multiple Availability Zones, a placement group is not suitable because cluster placement groups cannot span multiple AZs, and spread/partition placement groups do not improve latency — they only control instance placement for fault isolation. ENA alone, combined with a Network Load Balancer, delivers the lowest latency while maintaining high availability across AZs.
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 a cluster placement group across two Availability Zones.
Why it's wrong here
Cluster placement groups cannot span multiple Availability Zones.
- ✓
Do not use a placement group; enable Enhanced Networking (ENA) on all instances.
Why this is correct
Placement groups are limited to single AZ for low latency; Enhanced Networking provides low latency across AZs without placement group constraints.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use a spread placement group across two Availability Zones.
Why it's wrong here
Spread placement groups are designed to reduce risk of simultaneous failure, not for low latency.
- ✗
Use a partition placement group across two Availability Zones.
Why it's wrong here
Partition placement groups are for large distributed systems, not for low latency.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume a placement group is always beneficial for low latency, but they fail to recognize that cluster placement groups cannot span AZs and that spread/partition placement groups do not reduce network latency — they only control physical placement for fault tolerance.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Enhanced Networking (ENA) supports up to 100 Gbps of network throughput and significantly reduces jitter and latency by using SR-IOV (Single Root I/O Virtualization) to bypass the hypervisor’s network stack. In contrast, placement groups affect physical proximity but do not alter the underlying network path or packet processing overhead; latency across AZs is dominated by the inter-AZ fiber distance and the number of network hops, which ENA helps minimize by reducing per-packet processing delay. For workloads requiring both low latency and high availability across AZs, the correct approach is to use ENA-enabled instances in a multi-AZ Auto Scaling group behind an NLB, without any placement group.
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
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this ANS-C01 question test?
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: Do not use a placement group; enable Enhanced Networking (ENA) on all instances. — Option B is correct because Enhanced Networking (ENA) provides the highest possible packet-per-second performance and lowest latency by offloading network processing to dedicated hardware on the instance. Since the application requires low latency across multiple Availability Zones, a placement group is not suitable because cluster placement groups cannot span multiple AZs, and spread/partition placement groups do not improve latency — they only control instance placement for fault isolation. ENA alone, combined with a Network Load Balancer, delivers the lowest latency while maintaining high availability across AZs.
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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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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