Question 1mediummulti select
Full question →mediummulti selectObjective-mapped
A retail API runs on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer and stores orders in an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL database. A test that stopped one Availability Zone caused the API to return errors because all application servers were in the same AZ and the database was single-AZ. Which two changes should the architect make to continue serving traffic during a single-AZ failure? Select two.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Distractor review
Increase the EC2 instance size and keep all application servers in the same subnet.
Bigger instances add capacity, but they do not protect against the entire Availability Zone becoming unavailable.
B
Best answer
Configure the Auto Scaling group to launch instances across private subnets in at least two Availability Zones.
Spreading the application tier across multiple AZs preserves healthy capacity if one AZ fails and lets the load balancer keep serving requests.
C
Distractor review
Replace the Application Load Balancer with a Network Load Balancer in a single Availability Zone.
A single-AZ load balancer still leaves the application vulnerable to an AZ outage and does not add redundant capacity.
D
Best answer
Convert the RDS for PostgreSQL database to a Multi-AZ deployment.
Multi-AZ RDS adds synchronous standby failover in another AZ, which protects the writer database from a single-AZ loss.
E
Distractor review
Add an Amazon RDS read replica and point the application to the replica endpoint.
Read replicas help with read scaling, but they are not a direct replacement for automatic writer failover in this scenario.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: usable hosts are not the same as total addresses
Subnetting questions often tempt you into counting all addresses. In normal IPv4 subnets, the network and broadcast addresses are not usable host addresses.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
Subnetting questions test whether you can identify the network, broadcast address, usable range, mask and correct subnet. Slow down enough to calculate the block size correctly.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
- Block size helps identify subnet boundaries.
- Network and broadcast addresses are not usable hosts in normal IPv4 subnets.
- The required host count determines the smallest suitable subnet.
TExam Day Tips
- Write the block size before choosing the subnet.
- Check whether the question asks for hosts, subnets or a specific address range.
- Do not confuse /24, /25, /26 and /27 host counts.
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More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A team needs to distribute TCP traffic (not HTTP) across multiple services. The services must see the original client source IP for auditing. Which AWS load balancer is the best fit?
Question 2
A team wants to run containerized services with AWS-managed orchestration and autoscaling. They do NOT require Kubernetes compatibility. Which AWS service choice is most appropriate to meet these goals?
Question 3
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Question 4
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Question 5
A team wants to delegate IAM management to developers, but must ensure developers can never grant themselves permissions beyond a specific limit. Which AWS mechanism best matches this requirement?
Question 6
A solutions architect is designing an S3 bucket for a healthcare document service. The objects must never be publicly accessible, even if a developer later adds an overly broad bucket policy. What should the architect configure?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAA-C03 question test?
CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Configure the Auto Scaling group to launch instances across private subnets in at least two Availability Zones. — Spreading the EC2 application tier across at least two Availability Zones ensures that a single-AZ failure does not remove all serving capacity from the load balancer. Converting the database to RDS Multi-AZ protects the writer from the same failure domain by maintaining a synchronous standby in another AZ and promoting it automatically when needed. Together, these changes remove the two single points of failure that caused the test outage. Why others are wrong: Increasing instance size only helps if the existing AZ stays healthy. A single-AZ NLB still leaves no surviving application capacity if that AZ fails. An RDS read replica is useful for read scaling or manual promotion, but it is not the best automatic failover design for the primary writer in a single-AZ failure.
What should I do if I get this SAA-C03 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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