SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is deploying a new web application on AWS that requires a highly available and scalable architecture. The application consists of a stateless web tier and a stateful database tier. The web tier runs on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. The database tier uses Amazon Aurora MySQL. The company expects variable traffic patterns and wants to automatically scale the web tier based on CPU utilization. Additionally, the company wants to ensure that the database can handle increased read traffic without manual intervention. Which combination of actions should the company take?
⚠ Common exam trap
SAP-C02 often tests whether candidates confuse 'scaling compute' with 'scaling database reads' — the trap is picking a queue, cache, or DynamoDB option that sounds like it offloads traffic but does not actually add Aurora read capacity.
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
✓
Use an Auto Scaling group with a target tracking scaling policy based on CPU utilization. Enable Aurora Auto Scaling to add read replicas based on CPU or connections.
It pairs the two native AWS auto-scaling mechanisms that match the stated requirements: an Auto Scaling group with a target tracking policy keeps the stateless web tier's average CPU near a defined target, and Aurora Auto Scaling automatically adds/removes Aurora Replicas when a read-replica-level metric (CPU or connections) crosses a threshold. Both are managed, metric-driven, and require no manual intervention, satisfying the 'variable traffic' and 'increased read traffic' requirements.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use an Auto Scaling group with a target tracking scaling policy based on CPU utilization. Enable Aurora Auto Scaling to add read replicas based on CPU or connections.
Why this is correct
Target tracking on CPU scales the stateless web tier automatically with variable load, while Aurora Auto Scaling adds read replicas when CPU or connection thresholds are breached. Together they satisfy both the web-tier scaling and read-capacity requirements without manual intervention.
- ✗
Use an Auto Scaling group with a target tracking scaling policy based on CPU utilization. Use Amazon SQS to queue read requests during peak traffic.
Why it's wrong here
SQS queues requests for asynchronous processing; it does not increase Aurora's read throughput, and the web tier would still wait on the database. Queuing suits decoupling background workloads, but Aurora Replicas with Auto Scaling serve the additional read traffic directly.
- ✗
Use an Auto Scaling group with a simple scaling policy based on CPU utilization. Use DynamoDB Auto Scaling for the database.
Why it's wrong here
Simple scaling reacts to alarms with cooldowns, so it lags variable traffic, and DynamoDB Auto Scaling cannot scale an Aurora MySQL database. DynamoDB suits key-value workloads, but the stem specifies Aurora, which scales reads through Aurora Replicas with Auto Scaling.
- ✗
Use an Auto Scaling group with a step scaling policy based on CPU utilization. Use ElastiCache Auto Scaling to add cache nodes for read traffic.
Why it's wrong here
ElastiCache caches query results in memory; it does not scale Aurora's read capacity, and the stem asks for the database to absorb increased read traffic automatically. Caching suits reducing repeated identical reads, but Aurora Replicas with Auto Scaling add genuine read endpoints.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
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.