SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is migrating a legacy .NET Framework 4.7 application to AWS. The application currently uses Windows Authentication and stores session state in-process. The company wants to minimize code changes and use AWS managed services. Which TWO strategies should the company adopt?
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
✓
Migrate the application to run on Amazon EC2 instances joined to AWS Managed Microsoft AD.
Option A is correct because joining Amazon EC2 instances to AWS Managed Microsoft AD preserves Windows Authentication (Kerberos/NTLM) for the legacy .NET Framework 4.7 app, allowing it to authenticate domain users without code changes while using a managed AWS directory service. Option C is correct because moving in-process session state to Amazon ElastiCache for Redis via the Redis Session State Provider requires only configuration changes (web.config) and no application rewrite, and ElastiCache is an AWS managed service. Option B is not appropriate because rewriting to .NET Core and migrating to Elastic Beanstalk with RDS for SQL Server involves significant code changes and does not directly address Windows Authentication. Option D is not suitable because Amazon Cognito with an AD connector targets modern web/mobile identity federation rather than preserving existing Windows Authentication for a legacy .NET Framework application without changes. Option E is not correct because DynamoDB is not a drop-in session state provider for ASP.NET without custom code, and it does not address the Windows Authentication requirement.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Migrate the application to run on Amazon EC2 instances joined to AWS Managed Microsoft AD.
Why this is correct
Joining EC2 instances to AWS Managed Microsoft AD preserves Windows Authentication (Kerberos) without rewriting the identity layer, and the managed domain removes self-managed domain controller overhead. This meets both constraints: minimal code change and use of an AWS managed service.
- ✗
Rewrite the application to .NET Core and deploy on AWS Elastic Beanstalk with Amazon RDS for SQL Server.
Why it's wrong here
Rewriting to .NET Core discards the existing Windows Authentication integration and in-process session handling, requiring substantial code changes the stem explicitly seeks to avoid. It is tempting because Elastic Beanstalk with RDS for SQL Server is a managed hosting pattern, and would suit a greenfield or modernisation project without those constraints.
- ✓
Store session data in Amazon ElastiCache for Redis using the Redis Session State Provider.
Why this is correct
The Redis Session State Provider is a drop-in replacement for in-process session state, requiring only configuration changes rather than code rewrites. ElastiCache for Redis is a managed service, satisfying both the minimal-code-change and managed-service requirements while externalising session data for multi-instance scaling.
- ✗
Use Amazon Cognito with an Active Directory connector for authentication.
Why it's wrong here
Cognito's AD connector does not preserve Windows Authentication for a .NET Framework application without code changes to redirect authentication. It is tempting because Cognito provides managed identity for web applications, and would be correct for a new cloud-native app designed to use OIDC or SAML federation from the outset.
- ✗
Use Amazon DynamoDB to persist session state.
Why it's wrong here
DynamoDB requires rewriting the application's session provider to a custom or third-party implementation, which conflicts with minimising code changes. It is tempting because DynamoDB is a managed, scalable store for session data, and would be correct for a stateless application already designed to externalise session state.
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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.