SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Question
A company hosts a static website on Amazon S3 with public read access. The website uses a custom domain name (www.example.com). The company wants to improve performance for global users and also add HTTPS support. They have already set up a CloudFront distribution with the S3 bucket as the origin. However, users still cannot access the website via HTTPS. What should they do?
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
✓
Configure the CloudFront distribution to use a custom SSL certificate and set the alternate domain name (CNAME) to www.example.com.
To serve HTTPS, CloudFront needs an SSL/TLS certificate associated with it, and the custom domain (www.example.com) must be set as an alternate domain name (CNAME) in the distribution settings. The certificate can be obtained from ACM (must be in the US East (N. Virginia) region) and then associated with the CloudFront distribution. Option A is incorrect because ACM certificates are not imported into CloudFront; they are associated with the distribution. Option B is incorrect because enabling static website hosting on S3 is not required when using CloudFront as a CDN, and bucket policies cannot enforce HTTPS at the S3 level; HTTPS is terminated at CloudFront. Option C is incorrect because placing an Application Load Balancer in front of S3 is unnecessary, as CloudFront already provides HTTPS termination and caching for better performance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Request an SSL certificate from AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) and import it into CloudFront.
Why it's wrong here
The certificate from ACM should be associated with the CloudFront distribution, not imported. Import implies bringing an external certificate, while ACM issues certificates that are natively integrated with CloudFront.
- ✗
Enable static website hosting on the S3 bucket and configure the bucket policy to allow HTTPS.
Why it's wrong here
Enabling static website hosting on the S3 bucket is not necessary when using CloudFront; CloudFront can serve the content directly from the bucket. Additionally, bucket policies cannot enforce HTTPS at the S3 level; HTTPS is terminated at CloudFront.
- ✗
Place an Application Load Balancer in front of the S3 bucket and attach an SSL certificate.
Why it's wrong here
Placing an ALB in front of the S3 bucket adds unnecessary complexity. CloudFront already provides HTTPS termination and performance benefits through caching, so an ALB is not needed.
- ✓
Configure the CloudFront distribution to use a custom SSL certificate and set the alternate domain name (CNAME) to www.example.com.
Why this is correct
It involves configuring the CloudFront distribution to use a custom SSL certificate from ACM and setting the alternate domain name to www.example.com, which enables HTTPS access.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SAP-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SAP-C02 exam.