SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is modernizing a monolithic application into microservices on AWS. The application currently uses a single SQL database. Which THREE AWS services can help decouple the data layer and enable event-driven communication between microservices?
⚠ Common exam trap
SAP-C02 often tests the confusion between services that store data (RDS, ElastiCache) and those that enable event-driven decoupling (SNS, SQS, EventBridge); candidates may incorrectly select RDS or ElastiCache thinking they help decouple.
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 Notification Service (SNS)
Amazon SNS (A) is correct because it provides a pub/sub messaging service that lets microservices publish events to multiple subscribers (SQS queues, Lambda, HTTP endpoints), enabling fan-out event-driven communication without tight coupling. Amazon SQS (C) is correct because it offers durable, decoupled point-to-point queues that buffer messages between producers and consumers, allowing microservices to communicate asynchronously and independently scale. Amazon EventBridge (E) is correct because it is a serverless event bus that routes events from AWS services, custom applications, and SaaS sources to targets using rules and filters, which is ideal for event-driven microservice architectures. Amazon RDS (B) is not correct because it is a relational database service, not a decoupling or event-driven messaging mechanism, and the scenario is moving away from a single SQL database. Amazon ElastiCache (D) is not correct because it is an in-memory caching service (Redis/Memcached) for performance, not a service for decoupling data layers or enabling event-driven communication.
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 Simple Notification Service (SNS)
Why this is correct
Amazon SNS provides pub/sub messaging, letting microservices publish events to topics and fan out to multiple subscribers without direct coupling. This satisfies the stem's requirement for event-driven communication between microservices, decoupling producers from consumers. It complements database decoupling by removing synchronous point-to-point calls, enabling asynchronous, scalable event distribution across services.
- ✗
Amazon RDS
Why it's wrong here
Amazon RDS provides managed relational databases, so it preserves the shared SQL schema and synchronous coupling the modernisation must break; it adds no event routing. It is tempting because RDS hosts the existing engine with minimal change, and suits lift-and-shift migrations, but decoupling requires purpose-built messaging and streaming services.
- ✓
Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS)
Why this is correct
Amazon SQS decouples microservices by providing a durable, pull-based message queue: producers enqueue messages without waiting for consumers, absorbing bursts and retrying failures independently. This satisfies the stem's event-driven communication requirement, letting each microservice process work asynchronously rather than sharing the monolithic SQL database directly.
- ✗
Amazon ElastiCache
Why it's wrong here
ElastiCache is an in-memory cache for read acceleration and session storage, not a durable event broker; it cannot publish or subscribe persistently between microservices. It is tempting because it decouples read traffic from the database, which helps scaling scenarios, but the stem requires event-driven communication and data-layer separation.
- ✓
Amazon EventBridge
Why this is correct
EventBridge routes events between producers and consumers using rules and an event bus, decoupling microservices from one another. It satisfies the event-driven communication requirement by matching event patterns and delivering to targets without point-to-point integration.
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 |
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every SAP-C02 question from scratch — 984 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
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.