SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is migrating a monolithic application to a microservices architecture on AWS. They want to decouple the services and ensure that messages between services are processed asynchronously and durably. Which AWS service should they use for this purpose?
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 Simple Queue Service (SQS)
Amazon SQS (Simple Queue Service) is the correct choice for decoupling microservices with asynchronous, durable message processing. It provides a fully managed message queue that allows services to send, store, and receive messages between software components without losing messages. Amazon Kinesis Data Streams (option A) is designed for real-time streaming of large data, not for point-to-point queue-based messaging. Amazon SNS (option C) is a pub/sub service that pushes messages to subscribers, but it does not provide durable storage or polling capabilities. AWS Step Functions (option D) is used for coordinating complex workflows, not for basic asynchronous messaging.
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 Kinesis Data Streams
Why it's wrong here
Kinesis is for real-time streaming, not simple message queuing.
- ✓
Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS)
Why this is correct
SQS is a fully managed message queue for decoupling and asynchronous processing.
- ✗
Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)
Why it's wrong here
SNS is for pub/sub, not point-to-point queueing.
- ✗
AWS Step Functions
Why it's wrong here
Step Functions orchestrate workflows, not a durable message queue.
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 |
Go deeper
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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.