SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is designing a new static website hosted on Amazon S3. The website must be served over HTTPS with a custom domain name. Which AWS service should be used to achieve this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates assume S3 static website hosting can directly serve HTTPS with a custom domain, but S3's built-in website endpoint does not support custom SSL certificates, making CloudFront the required service for HTTPS termination with a custom domain.
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
✓
Amazon CloudFront with SSL certificate
Amazon CloudFront can be configured to serve content from an S3 bucket as the origin, and it supports custom SSL certificates via AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) or IAM, enabling HTTPS for a custom domain. This is the recommended architecture for static websites requiring HTTPS because CloudFront provides edge caching, DDoS protection, and seamless SSL termination.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon Route 53 with alias record
Why it's wrong here
Route 53 alias records map a custom domain to an S3 endpoint but provide no TLS termination, so HTTPS cannot be served. It is tempting because alias records are the correct mechanism for pointing a domain at S3, yet the stem's HTTPS requirement demands a certificate-bearing service such as CloudFront with ACM.
- ✓
Amazon CloudFront with SSL certificate
Why this is correct
CloudFront terminates HTTPS at edge locations using an ACM certificate for the custom domain, then fetches content from the S3 origin. S3 static website endpoints alone cannot serve HTTPS with a custom domain, so CloudFront satisfies both requirements.
- ✗
Amazon S3 static website hosting with bucket policy
Why it's wrong here
S3 static website hosting endpoints serve only HTTP; a bucket policy controls access but cannot terminate TLS for a custom domain. It is tempting because bucket policies are genuinely needed to make objects publicly readable, yet the HTTPS requirement needs CloudFront with an ACM certificate in front of the bucket.
- ✗
Elastic Load Balancer with SSL termination
Why it's wrong here
An ELB cannot serve content directly from an S3 bucket; it requires registered targets such as EC2 instances or IP addresses, so it cannot front a static website. It is tempting because ELB provides SSL termination, which is the actual requirement, but CloudFront with an ACM certificate is the service that terminates TLS for S3 origins.
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 |
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on SAP-C02
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 is designing a new static website hosted on Amazon S3. They want to use Amazon CloudFront as a content delivery network (CDN) to serve the website globally with low latency. The website content must be encrypted in transit. Which configurations should they use? (Choose TWO.)
easy- A.Enable default encryption on the S3 bucket using AES-256.
- B.Enable S3 Transfer Acceleration on the bucket.
- ✓ C.Configure the S3 bucket policy to deny requests that do not use HTTPS.
- ✓ D.Configure CloudFront to require HTTPS for viewer requests.
- E.Use CloudFront signed URLs to restrict access.
Why C: Option C is correct because enforcing an S3 bucket policy with a Deny effect on aws:SecureTransport false ensures that any request reaching the S3 origin (including from CloudFront or direct callers) must use HTTPS/TLS, satisfying encryption in transit at the origin. Option D is correct because setting the CloudFront distribution's viewer protocol policy to redirect HTTP to HTTPS (or HTTPS only) guarantees that all client-to-edge traffic is encrypted with TLS, which is the primary in-transit path for a global static website. Option A is incorrect because AES-256 default encryption is server-side encryption at rest, not in transit. Option B is incorrect because S3 Transfer Acceleration speeds up uploads/downloads using AWS edge locations but does not enforce or provide encryption in transit. Option E is incorrect because CloudFront signed URLs control access/authorization to content, not transport encryption.
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.