The answer is to use Amazon CloudFront with an SSL certificate from AWS Certificate Manager and point the CloudFront distribution to the S3 bucket. This combination works because CloudFront acts as a content delivery network that can serve static content from an S3 origin while terminating HTTPS at the edge, using an ACM-issued certificate bound to the custom domain name. S3 alone cannot natively support custom SSL certificates, and services like ELB or Route 53 do not provide HTTPS termination for static hosting. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of edge-optimized architectures and the separation of storage from delivery—a common trap is assuming S3’s static website endpoint can handle HTTPS with a custom domain, which it cannot. Remember the memory tip: “CloudFront cures the HTTPS curse” — always pair a custom domain with CloudFront and ACM for secure static hosting.
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 solution to host a static website on AWS. The website content is stored in an Amazon S3 bucket. The company wants to use a custom domain name (e.g., www.example.com) and enforce HTTPS. Which combination of AWS services should the company use?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use Amazon CloudFront with an SSL certificate from AWS Certificate Manager and point the CloudFront distribution to the S3 bucket.
Option D is correct because Amazon CloudFront can serve content from S3, and AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) can provision an SSL/TLS certificate for the custom domain, allowing HTTPS. Option A is wrong because S3 does not support custom SSL certificates natively. Option B is wrong because ELB is not needed for static website hosting. Option C is wrong because Route 53 does not provide HTTPS termination.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Configure the S3 bucket for static website hosting and attach a custom SSL certificate using AWS Certificate Manager.
Why it's wrong here
S3 static website hosting does not support custom SSL certificates.
✓
Use Amazon CloudFront with an SSL certificate from AWS Certificate Manager and point the CloudFront distribution to the S3 bucket.
Use an Application Load Balancer in front of the S3 bucket and attach an SSL certificate from AWS Certificate Manager.
Why it's wrong here
ALB cannot use S3 as a target directly.
Common exam traps
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.
Detailed technical explanation
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.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
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 the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related SAP-C02 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Design for New Solutions — This question tests Design for New Solutions — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use Amazon CloudFront with an SSL certificate from AWS Certificate Manager and point the CloudFront distribution to the S3 bucket. — Option D is correct because Amazon CloudFront can serve content from S3, and AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) can provision an SSL/TLS certificate for the custom domain, allowing HTTPS. Option A is wrong because S3 does not support custom SSL certificates natively. Option B is wrong because ELB is not needed for static website hosting. Option C is wrong because Route 53 does not provide HTTPS termination.
What should I do if I get this SAP-C02 question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related SAP-C02 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
About these practice questions
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These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company wants to serve static content (images and videos) to users worldwide with low latency. The content is stored in an Amazon S3 bucket. What is the most cost-effective solution?
easy
A.Use AWS Global Accelerator with endpoints pointing to the S3 bucket.
B.Deploy EC2 instances in multiple Regions and use a load balancer.
✓ C.Use Amazon CloudFront with the S3 bucket as the origin.
D.Host the content directly from the S3 bucket and use S3 Transfer Acceleration.
Why C: Option C is correct because Amazon CloudFront is a CDN that caches content at edge locations, reducing latency and cost for data transfer. Option A is wrong because S3 alone does not provide edge caching. Option B is wrong because Global Accelerator improves network path but does not cache content. Option D is wrong because EC2 instances would require management and scaling.
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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.
Question Discussion
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