Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
Your company currently uses an Application Load Balancer (ALB) in front of a service that receives a large number of TCP and UDP packets (including UDP-based telemetry). During load tests, you need to support both TCP and UDP traffic at high throughput while keeping stable IP endpoints for a downstream firewall allowlist. Which change best meets these requirements?
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
Switch to a Network Load Balancer (NLB) configured for TCP/UDP, and use Elastic IPs to provide stable endpoint IP addresses for allowlisting.
NLB operates at Layer 4 and supports both TCP and UDP. For stable IP allowlists, you can associate Elastic IP addresses with the NLB so the load balancer exposes consistent IPs (as opposed to relying on dynamic addresses). This combination directly satisfies protocol support and stable endpoint requirements.
B
Distractor review
Keep the ALB and add an AWS WAF Web ACL to improve throughput and add static IP support.
WAF can add security filtering and some rate/managed protections, but it does not enable UDP packet handling at the load balancer layer. Also, WAF does not provide the kind of stable, load-balancer-level IP endpoint behavior required for firewall allowlisting of UDP telemetry.
C
Distractor review
Replace the ALB with an API Gateway REST API to support UDP because API Gateway can forward UDP packets.
API Gateway is designed for HTTP/HTTPS APIs. It does not forward raw UDP packets for telemetry use cases in the way a Layer 4 load balancer does, so this does not satisfy UDP support requirements.
D
Distractor review
Use an Auto Scaling group with multiple EC2 instances and no load balancer to avoid any networking bottlenecks.
Removing the load balancer eliminates managed Layer 4 traffic distribution and does not inherently provide stable IP endpoints for allowlisting. Without a load balancer, you must solve both traffic distribution and endpoint stability yourself, and you generally do not improve throughput for packet-based protocols by removing the balancer.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
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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?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Switch to a Network Load Balancer (NLB) configured for TCP/UDP, and use Elastic IPs to provide stable endpoint IP addresses for allowlisting. — A Network Load Balancer is the best fit because it works at Layer 4 and supports both TCP and UDP traffic. To maintain stable IP endpoints for a firewall allowlist, you can associate Elastic IP addresses with the NLB, providing consistent IPs that downstream systems can allowlist. By contrast, ALB is optimized for HTTP/HTTPS requests and does not natively support UDP telemetry at the packet level, and API Gateway is not intended for raw UDP forwarding. ALB cannot natively handle UDP telemetry packets at the packet layer, so it does not meet the protocol requirement. WAF primarily adds inspection and protection controls; it does not transform ALB into a UDP-capable load balancer or guarantee static IP endpoints for firewall allowlisting. API Gateway targets HTTP/HTTPS APIs, not UDP packet forwarding. Dropping the load balancer removes managed Layer 4 distribution and does not provide a standard mechanism for stable allowlisted IPs for high-throughput packet ingestion.
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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