Question 1easymultiple choice
Full question →easymultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A stateless web application runs on Amazon EC2 instances across two Availability Zones. The team wants unhealthy instances to be removed automatically and replaced without manual action. What is the best solution?
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
Place the instances in a single subnet and increase the instance size.
This does not add automatic recovery or remove unhealthy instances from service.
B
Best answer
Use an Application Load Balancer with an Auto Scaling group and configure health checks.
An Application Load Balancer distributes traffic across healthy targets, and an Auto Scaling group can replace instances that fail health checks. Together, they provide automatic recovery from instance failure and keep the application available across multiple Availability Zones. This is the standard resilient design for stateless EC2 web tiers.
C
Distractor review
Use a network ACL to detect failed instances and restart them.
Network ACLs filter traffic, but they do not monitor instance health or restart servers.
D
Distractor review
Store the web servers on EBS volumes so the data survives failures.
Persistent storage alone does not automatically recover failed compute instances or shift traffic.
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.
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Question 2
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Question 5
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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: Use an Application Load Balancer with an Auto Scaling group and configure health checks. — For a stateless web tier, the best pattern is an Application Load Balancer in front of an Auto Scaling group. The load balancer routes traffic only to healthy instances, while the Auto Scaling group launches replacement instances when health checks fail or when capacity drops. Using multiple Availability Zones adds resilience if an instance or AZ becomes unavailable. This design is simple, common, and well aligned to associate-level AWS architecture decisions. Why others are wrong: A single subnet and larger instance reduce some risk only slightly and do not automate recovery. Network ACLs are stateless traffic controls, not health management tools. EBS persistence helps preserve data, but it does not detect failure or move user traffic to healthy compute automatically.
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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