SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is migrating a legacy monolithic application to AWS. The application currently runs on a single Windows Server with IIS and SQL Server. The company wants to adopt a microservices architecture on AWS using containers. The development team has containerized the application into several Docker containers. The company needs a solution that minimizes operational overhead for managing the container orchestration and scaling, and also integrates with AWS services like IAM, CloudWatch, and VPC. Which AWS service should the company use to run the containers?
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 ECS with the Fargate launch type.
(Amazon ECS with the Fargate launch type) is correct because it provides serverless container orchestration, eliminating the need to manage underlying infrastructure, integrates natively with AWS services like IAM, CloudWatch, and VPC, and is ideal for microservices. Option B (EKS with managed node groups) still requires managing Kubernetes control plane and worker nodes, adding operational overhead. Option C (Elastic Beanstalk with Docker) is better suited for simpler, single-container deployments and lacks fine-grained control for microservices. Option D (EC2 instances with Docker and Auto Scaling) requires managing EC2 instances, patching, and scaling, increasing operational burden.
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 ECS with the Fargate launch type.
Why this is correct
Fargate is serverless, reducing operational overhead, and integrates well with AWS services.
- ✗
Amazon EKS with managed node groups.
Why it's wrong here
EKS still requires managing the Kubernetes control plane and node groups, adding overhead.
- ✗
AWS Elastic Beanstalk with a Docker platform.
Why it's wrong here
Elastic Beanstalk is tempting because it significantly minimises operational overhead for deploying and managing single-container or tightly coupled multi-container applications, abstracting underlying infrastructure. However, for a microservices architecture with several independently scalable Docker containers, Elastic Beanstalk's application-centric abstraction limits fine-grained control over individual service orchestration and scaling. It does not provide the dedicated container orchestration capabilities required for complex microservice deployments that services designed specifically for containers offer.
- ✗
Amazon EC2 instances with Docker installed, managed by an Auto Scaling group.
Why it's wrong here
This requires manual management of EC2 instances and Docker, increasing overhead.
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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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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