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mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped

An Auto Scaling group behind an Application Load Balancer frequently replaces new EC2 instances. The application needs ~6 minutes to warm up after instance launch. However, the ALB target group health checks start immediately and mark the targets unhealthy until the application is ready. Because the targets become unhealthy early, the Auto Scaling group then terminates the instances and launches replacements, creating a repeated unhealthy/termination loop.

What configuration change will most directly improve recovery by preventing premature ASG termination while the application is warming up?

Question 1mediummultiple choice
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An Auto Scaling group behind an Application Load Balancer frequently replaces new EC2 instances. The application needs ~6 minutes to warm up after instance launch. However, the ALB target group health checks start immediately and mark the targets unhealthy until the application is ready. Because the targets become unhealthy early, the Auto Scaling group then terminates the instances and launches replacements, creating a repeated unhealthy/termination loop.

What configuration change will most directly improve recovery by preventing premature ASG termination while the application is warming up?

Full question →

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

Best answer

Set a health check grace period on the Auto Scaling group that exceeds the application startup/warm-up time.

A health check grace period delays when the Auto Scaling group starts evaluating instance health. This prevents the ASG from terminating instances due to ALB/target health being unhealthy during the initial warm-up window, breaking the unhealthy/termination loop.

B

Distractor review

Increase the Auto Scaling group's desired capacity to a higher number than required.

Higher desired capacity may reduce the symptoms by keeping more instances running, but it does not stop the ASG from terminating individual instances that fail health checks before the app is ready.

C

Distractor review

Disable ALB target group health checks so instances are considered healthy as soon as they register.

Disabling health checks can route traffic to targets that are still warming up. That can increase 5xx errors and does not address ASG termination based on unhealthy health evaluations.

D

Distractor review

Change the Auto Scaling health check type from ELB to EC2 so the ALB will no longer determine instance health.

Even if EC2 status checks pass, the application may still not be ready. The instance can remain in service while still causing failed requests, and the ASG will not use ALB readiness to enforce correct routing behavior.

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

A solutions architect is designing an S3 bucket for a IoT ingestion API. The objects must never be publicly accessible, even if a developer later adds an overly broad bucket policy. What should the architect configure? The design must avoid adding custom operational scripts.

Question 4

A solutions architect is designing an S3 bucket for a claims portal. The objects must never be publicly accessible, even if a developer later adds an overly broad bucket policy. What should the architect configure?

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: Set a health check grace period on the Auto Scaling group that exceeds the application startup/warm-up time. — The failure mode is a timing mismatch: the ALB marks targets unhealthy immediately, and the Auto Scaling group acts on that unhealthy state before the application can become ready. Setting an Auto Scaling health check grace period delays ASG health evaluation for newly launched instances, giving the application time to start before termination decisions are made. This breaks the repeated replacement loop while still allowing the ALB health checks to be used after the warm-up period. Why others are wrong: Increasing desired capacity only masks the issue temporarily; the underlying unhealthy/termination loop remains. Disabling ALB health checks removes an important readiness signal and can send traffic to not-yet-ready targets. Switching ASG health check type to EC2 avoids ALB-based evaluation, but it does not guarantee application readiness and therefore does not directly fix premature termination during warm-up.

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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