SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is migrating a legacy application that uses a proprietary binary protocol for communication. The application communicates over TCP/IP. The company wants to modernize the communication layer to use a RESTful API. Which TWO approaches should the company consider?
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 Amazon API Gateway and AWS Lambda to create a REST API that translates requests to the legacy protocol.
Option B is correct because Amazon API Gateway can expose a RESTful API endpoint while AWS Lambda functions act as the integration layer that translates incoming HTTP/JSON requests into the legacy proprietary binary protocol, allowing the legacy application to remain unchanged behind the modernization facade. Option D is correct because refactoring the application itself to natively speak HTTP lets it be fronted directly by Amazon API Gateway as a REST API, eliminating the need for protocol translation and providing a fully RESTful communication layer. Option A is not appropriate because Amazon MQ is a managed message broker for protocols such as JMS, AMQP, MQTT, OpenWire, and STOMP, not a REST API or binary-to-HTTP translator. Option C is incorrect because AWS App Mesh is a service mesh for managing and observing service-to-service traffic (typically HTTP/gRPC/TCP), not a protocol conversion tool that turns a proprietary binary protocol into HTTP. Option E is incorrect because Amazon CloudFront is a CDN that caches and accelerates content delivery; it does not modernize or translate a proprietary binary protocol into REST.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Replace the binary protocol with Amazon MQ.
Why it's wrong here
Amazon MQ brokers messages between producers and consumers using protocols such as AMQP, MQTT and STOMP; it does not expose REST semantics or translate binary payloads into HTTP requests. It fits decoupling existing applications that already speak JMS or AMQP.
- ✓
Use Amazon API Gateway and AWS Lambda to create a REST API that translates requests to the legacy protocol.
Why this is correct
API Gateway fronts a RESTful HTTPS endpoint, while Lambda functions translate each request into the legacy proprietary binary protocol over TCP/IP and return JSON responses. This preserves the existing backend, so only the communication layer is modernised.
- ✗
Use AWS App Mesh to convert the binary protocol to HTTP.
Why it's wrong here
AWS App Mesh provides service-to-service traffic routing, retries and observability between Envoy proxies over HTTP, gRPC or TCP; it does not decode a proprietary binary protocol into HTTP. It suits managing east-west traffic between microservices already communicating over supported protocols.
- ✓
Refactor the application to communicate over HTTP and use Amazon API Gateway.
Why this is correct
Refactoring the application to speak HTTP directly removes the proprietary binary protocol, and API Gateway then exposes and manages that HTTP interface as a REST API with throttling, auth and monitoring, eliminating the translation hop entirely.
- ✗
Use Amazon CloudFront to cache the RESTful endpoints.
Why it's wrong here
CloudFront caches HTTP responses at edge locations; it cannot translate a proprietary binary TCP protocol into REST, so the legacy client still speaks binary. Caching suits read-heavy REST endpoints already serving HTTP, reducing origin load and latency.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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