SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is migrating a stateful web application to AWS. The application currently runs on a single on-premises server and uses local storage for session data. The company wants to make the application highly available and scalable. What should the solutions architect do?
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 session data to Amazon ElastiCache or DynamoDB, then use an Auto Scaling group behind an ALB
Moving session state to ElastiCache or DynamoDB makes the application stateless, enabling Auto Scaling. Sticky sessions on an ALB are a workaround but do not provide full statelessness. Using a larger instance does not provide high availability. Multi-AZ RDS for session data is not ideal for high-frequency session access.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Store session data in a Multi-AZ Amazon RDS database and use Route 53 with health checks
Why it's wrong here
RDS stores session state but the application tier still needs a load balancer and scaling policy; Route 53 health checks only redirect traffic after failure, giving no horizontal scale-out. It is tempting because RDS Multi-AZ provides durable, replicated storage, and it would be correct when the requirement is a shared relational data store rather than session handling.
- ✗
Use an Application Load Balancer with sticky sessions and an Auto Scaling group
Why it's wrong here
Sticky sessions pin each user to one instance, so session data stays local and the group cannot scale freely or survive an instance loss without losing that user's state. It is tempting because ALB session affinity is a quick fix for stateful workloads, and it would be correct for short-lived affinity where sessions are not required to persist.
- ✗
Use a larger EC2 instance to handle all traffic and take regular snapshots
Why it's wrong here
A single larger instance remains a single point of failure and cannot scale horizontally, so it fails the high-availability requirement outright. It is tempting because vertical scaling plus snapshots is the direct lift-and-shift of the on-premises server, and it would be correct for a workload that genuinely cannot be distributed.
- ✓
Migrate session data to Amazon ElastiCache or DynamoDB, then use an Auto Scaling group behind an ALB
Why this is correct
Moving session state into ElastiCache or DynamoDB externalises it from the instance, so any instance in the Auto Scaling group can serve any request. The ALB distributes traffic, delivering the required high availability and horizontal scalability.
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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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on SAP-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company is migrating a web application to AWS. The application currently runs on a single server and uses a MySQL database. The company wants to ensure high availability and scalability. The web application is stateless. Which TWO actions should the company take to achieve these goals? (Choose TWO.)
medium- ✓ A.Deploy the web application on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group across multiple Availability Zones, with an Application Load Balancer
- B.Use a single Amazon RDS for MySQL DB instance
- ✓ C.Use Multi-AZ Amazon RDS for MySQL
- D.Use Amazon ElastiCache to cache database queries
- E.Use a large EC2 instance for the web application with Elastic IP
Why A: To achieve high availability and scalability for the web application, the company should deploy the web tier across multiple Availability Zones using an Auto Scaling group with an Application Load Balancer (Option A), which distributes traffic and automatically scales instances. For the MySQL database, using Multi-AZ Amazon RDS (Option C) provides automatic failover and high availability. Option B (single RDS instance) is a single point of failure. Option D (ElastiCache) is for caching, not for high availability or scaling. Option E (large EC2 instance with Elastic IP) does not provide scalability or availability.
JA
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.