SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is designing a new web application that will run on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. The application must handle sudden spikes in traffic without manual intervention. Which scaling approach should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse simple scaling policies with target tracking, assuming any policy based on CloudWatch alarms is sufficient, but simple scaling's cooldown period and single-step adjustment make it inadequate for sudden, sustained spikes that require rapid, continuous scaling.
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
✓
Target tracking scaling policies
Target tracking scaling policies are the correct choice because they allow Auto Scaling to automatically adjust capacity based on a target value for a specific CloudWatch metric (e.g., average CPU utilization or request count per target). This approach handles sudden traffic spikes without manual intervention by continuously monitoring the metric and adding or removing EC2 instances to maintain the target, making it ideal for unpredictable workloads.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Manual scaling
Why it's wrong here
Manual scaling requires an operator to adjust capacity, directly violating the requirement for no manual intervention during sudden spikes. It is tempting because it gives precise control and suits stable, predictable workloads, but it would be correct only where demand changes are infrequent and can be planned in advance.
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Scheduled scaling
Why it's wrong here
Scheduled scaling acts on a predefined timetable, so it cannot react to unanticipated traffic spikes arriving between scheduled actions. It is tempting because it suits predictable daily or weekly peaks, and it would be correct for workloads with known, recurring demand patterns rather than sudden unpredictable surges.
- ✓
Target tracking scaling policies
Why this is correct
Target tracking scaling policies continuously adjust EC2 capacity to hold a chosen metric, such as average CPU utilisation or request count per target, at a specified target value. This automatically absorbs sudden traffic spikes without manual intervention, directly satisfying the stem's requirement for hands-off elasticity behind the Application Load Balancer.
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Simple scaling policies
Why it's wrong here
Simple scaling policies adjust capacity by a fixed increment and then wait for a cooldown period, so they react too slowly to sudden spikes and cannot scale proportionally to demand. They suit steady workloads with predictable, gradual changes; target tracking policies, which scale to maintain a metric, fit this scenario.
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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.