SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is migrating its on-premises VMware VMs to AWS using AWS MGN. After the test cutover, the migrated EC2 instance fails the health check. The source VM runs Windows Server 2016 with a static IP. What is the most likely cause?
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
✓
The source VM's static IP configuration was not changed to DHCP.
When migrating a Windows VM with a static IP using AWS MGN, the source VM must be configured to use DHCP before migration, because AWS relies on DHCP for IP assignment. If the static IP configuration persists, the EC2 instance will not obtain an IP address, causing the health check to fail. Option A is incorrect because security groups do not affect DHCP-based IP assignment. Option B is incorrect because the EBS volume type (e.g., gp3) does not impact health checks. Option D is incorrect because the instance type is not related to DHCP configuration; Windows Server 2016 is compatible with most current instance types.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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The security group does not allow inbound RDP.
Why it's wrong here
Health checks validate instance and agent status, not inbound RDP reachability; a blocked RDP rule leaves the check passing. The static IP carried from the source VM conflicts with AWS networking. Security group rules are the right focus when troubleshooting connectivity failures after cutover.
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The EBS volume type is not gp3.
Why it's wrong here
MGN replicates to gp3 by default and volume type does not govern post-cutover health checks. Static IP configuration is the actual cause: the source's fixed address conflicts with AWS DHCP-assigned addressing. gp3 selection matters when tuning IOPS and throughput for performance-sensitive workloads.
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The source VM's static IP configuration was not changed to DHCP.
Why this is correct
AWS MGN requires the migrated instance to use DHCP; a static IP carried over from the source VM prevents the EC2 instance from obtaining its network configuration, failing the post-cutover health check. Changing the source VM to DHCP before cutover satisfies this constraint.
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The instance type is not compatible with Windows Server 2016.
Why it's wrong here
Windows Server 2016 runs on the broad range of current EC2 instance families; incompatibility is not the failure mechanism. The migrated instance retains its static IP, which clashes with AWS DHCP addressing. Instance type selection matters when matching CPU, memory and network requirements to workload demand.
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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.