SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is designing a microservices architecture using Amazon ECS with Fargate. The services need to communicate with each other. Which approach provides the BEST security and performance?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently assume a network-level solution (like VPC peering or NLB) is sufficient for security, but the exam specifically tests the need for application-layer authentication (mTLS) and observability in a microservices architecture, which only a service mesh like App Mesh provides.
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 AWS App Mesh for service-to-service communication with mutual TLS
AWS App Mesh provides a service mesh that enables secure, encrypted service-to-service communication using mutual TLS (mTLS), which authenticates both sides of the connection and encrypts traffic in transit. It also offers observability, traffic control, and retry logic at the application layer, making it the best choice for microservices on ECS Fargate where security and performance are critical.
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 AWS App Mesh for service-to-service communication with mutual TLS
Why this is correct
App Mesh provides a service mesh with mTLS, traffic control, and observability, improving security and performance within the mesh.
- ✗
Use VPC peering between the services' VPCs
Why it's wrong here
VPC peering connects VPCs but does not provide per-service communication control or mTLS.
- ✗
Use an internet-facing Application Load Balancer for each service
Why it's wrong here
Internet-facing ALBs expose services to the internet, increasing attack surface and latency.
- ✗
Use an internal Network Load Balancer for each service
Why it's wrong here
Internal NLB is better but still adds complexity; does not provide mTLS or observability.
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JA
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.