SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is hosting a static website on Amazon S3. The website uses JavaScript to make API calls to a backend API hosted on Amazon API Gateway. The company wants to reduce latency for users worldwide. Which combination of AWS services should the solutions architect use? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates think Lambda@Edge can directly process API calls to API Gateway, but Lambda@Edge only intercepts CloudFront events and cannot replace the API Gateway origin or handle backend API logic.
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 CloudFront with API Gateway as an origin.
Amazon CloudFront can use API Gateway as a custom origin, allowing API requests to be served from edge locations closer to users, which reduces latency. This integration caches API responses at the edge when possible and terminates the user's TCP connection at the edge, improving performance for global users.
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 CloudFront with API Gateway as an origin.
Why this is correct
This allows API calls to be served from edge locations.
- ✗
Use AWS Global Accelerator for the S3 website.
Why it's wrong here
Global Accelerator is for TCP/UDP traffic, not static websites.
- ✗
Use Lambda@Edge to process API calls at the edge.
Why it's wrong here
Lambda@Edge runs code at edge, but the API still needs to be served from API Gateway.
- ✓
Use Amazon CloudFront for both the S3 website and the API Gateway endpoint.
Why this is correct
CloudFront provides edge caching and reduces latency globally.
- ✗
Enable S3 Transfer Acceleration on the bucket.
Why it's wrong here
Transfer Acceleration speeds up uploads, not general API calls.
Visual reference
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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