SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is migrating a critical application to AWS using a lift-and-shift approach. The application runs on two on-premises servers: a web server and a database server running SQL Server. The company has deployed the web server on an EC2 instance behind an Application Load Balancer, and the database on an RDS for SQL Server Multi-AZ instance. After migration, users report that the application is noticeably slower compared to on-premises. The application uses a large number of database transactions, and latency between the web server and database has increased. The web server is in us-east-1a, and the RDS primary instance is in us-east-1b. The solutions architect verifies that the application is using the RDS endpoint, not the IP address. What should the architect do to reduce latency?
⚠ Common exam trap
SAP-C02 often tests whether candidates understand that cross-AZ latency is the culprit in lift-and-shift slowdowns, and distractors like 'bigger instance' or 'CloudFront' sound like performance fixes but don't address the actual network hop.
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
✓
Move the web server EC2 instance to the same Availability Zone as the RDS primary instance.
Cross-AZ traffic between the web server in us-east-1a and the RDS primary in us-east-1b adds roughly 1–2 ms of latency per round trip, which compounds dramatically for chatty applications issuing many small database transactions. Moving the EC2 web server into the same AZ as the RDS primary eliminates that cross-AZ hop, restoring on-premises-like latency. The application already uses the RDS endpoint, so no DNS or connection-string change is needed.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable Multi-AZ on the web server EC2 instance.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ for EC2 only replicates the instance into a standby in another Availability Zone for failover; it does not place the web server in us-east-1a alongside the RDS primary, so cross-AZ latency persists. It is tempting because Multi-AZ sounds like it improves resilience and locality, but it is designed for instance-level high availability, not for co-locating compute with a database.
- ✓
Move the web server EC2 instance to the same Availability Zone as the RDS primary instance.
Why this is correct
Placing the EC2 instance in the same Availability Zone as the RDS primary eliminates cross-AZ network hops, cutting the round-trip latency that the transaction-heavy workload amplifies. This satisfies the requirement to reduce latency without altering the application or database configuration.
- ✗
Upgrade the web server EC2 instance to a larger instance type with enhanced networking.
Why it's wrong here
Enhanced networking and a larger instance type raise packet throughput and reduce per-packet overhead, but the added latency stems from the web server and RDS primary sitting in different Availability Zones, so the network path is unchanged. It would be the right choice when a single instance is CPU- or network-bandwidth-bound, not when the round trip crosses AZ boundaries.
- ✗
Deploy Amazon CloudFront in front of the web server to cache responses.
Why it's wrong here
CloudFront caches HTTP responses at edge locations, which cannot shorten the transaction round trip between the web server in us-east-1a and the RDS primary in us-east-1b, and database transactions are not cacheable content. It is tempting because CloudFront reduces user-facing latency, but it is designed for cacheable HTTP objects, not for private database traffic.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
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.