SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design for new solutions. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company is designing a new microservices architecture using Amazon ECS with the Fargate launch type. The services need to communicate securely within a VPC. The company requires that inter-service communication is encrypted and that the services can discover each other using DNS names. Which THREE steps should the company take to meet these requirements?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Enable AWS Cloud Map for service discovery.
Option A is correct because Service Discovery enables DNS-based service discovery. Option B is correct because ECS tasks can use service discovery names via DNS. Option D is correct because VPC endpoints for ECR and other services are needed for Fargate to pull images. Option C is wrong because VPC Peering is not needed; services are in the same VPC. Option E is wrong because an Application Load Balancer is not required for inter-service communication; service discovery and direct communication suffice.
Key principle: Count usable hosts — not total addresses — and remember that the network and broadcast addresses are not available to hosts in standard IPv4 subnets.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Deploy an Application Load Balancer in front of each service for inter-service communication.
Why it's wrong here
ALB is for external traffic; inter-service communication can be direct via DNS names.
✗
Create a VPC peering connection between the services' subnets.
Why it's wrong here
Services are in the same VPC; no peering needed.
✓
Enable AWS Cloud Map for service discovery.
Why this is correct
Cloud Map allows services to register and discover each other via DNS.
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.
Detailed technical explanation
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.
Key takeaway
Count usable hosts — not total addresses — and remember that the network and broadcast addresses are not available to hosts in standard IPv4 subnets.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Review block sizes, usable host formulas (2^n − 2), and how to find network and broadcast addresses for /24 through /30. Then practise related SAP-C02 subnetting questions on CIDR, address ranges, and subnet selection.
Design for New Solutions — This question tests Design for New Solutions — CIDR notation defines the prefix length..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Enable AWS Cloud Map for service discovery. — Option A is correct because Service Discovery enables DNS-based service discovery. Option B is correct because ECS tasks can use service discovery names via DNS. Option D is correct because VPC endpoints for ECR and other services are needed for Fargate to pull images. Option C is wrong because VPC Peering is not needed; services are in the same VPC. Option E is wrong because an Application Load Balancer is not required for inter-service communication; service discovery and direct communication suffice.
What should I do if I get this SAP-C02 question wrong?
Review block sizes, usable host formulas (2^n − 2), and how to find network and broadcast addresses for /24 through /30. Then practise related SAP-C02 subnetting questions on CIDR, address ranges, and subnet selection.
What is the key concept behind this question?
CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
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Question Discussion
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