SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is migrating a web application to AWS and wants to automatically scale the application based on CPU utilization. The application runs on a set of EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. Which combination of AWS services should they use?
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
✓
Auto Scaling group with a simple scaling policy based on CloudWatch CPU alarm
Auto Scaling group with a simple scaling policy based on a CloudWatch CPU alarm. This directly scales EC2 instances in response to CPU utilization, providing automatic scaling. Option A is incorrect because AWS Lambda with scheduled scaling does not dynamically respond to CPU utilization; it's time-based. Option B (Amazon CloudFront) is a content delivery network, not a scaling mechanism. Option C (Elastic Beanstalk) manages environments but the underlying scaling relies on Auto Scaling groups; the question asks for the combination of services, and the core scaling service is the Auto Scaling group. Therefore, D is the correct choice.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS Lambda with scheduled scaling
Why it's wrong here
Lambda cannot run or scale the existing EC2 fleet, and scheduled scaling triggers on time, not CPU utilisation. It is tempting because Lambda is serverless and event-driven, and would be correct for scheduled batch jobs or event-triggered functions rather than load-driven EC2 scaling.
- ✗
Amazon CloudFront with origin scaling
Why it's wrong here
CloudFront caches and delivers content at edge locations; it has no origin scaling capability and cannot add EC2 capacity from CPU metrics. It is tempting because it fronts web applications, and would be correct for reducing latency and offloading static content, not for scaling compute.
- ✗
AWS Elastic Beanstalk with environment scaling
Why it's wrong here
Elastic Beanstalk manages its own environment and scaling policies, which conflicts with the requirement to scale the existing EC2 fleet behind an Application Load Balancer directly from CPU metrics. It is tempting as a managed platform, and would be correct for deploying a new application without existing infrastructure.
- ✓
Auto Scaling group with a simple scaling policy based on CloudWatch CPU alarm
Why this is correct
An Auto Scaling group with a simple scaling policy triggered by a CloudWatch CPU utilisation alarm adjusts desired capacity automatically, satisfying the CPU-based scaling requirement. The Application Load Balancer distributes traffic across the scaled instances, keeping the architecture responsive under varying load.
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
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.