SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
A company is planning to migrate a three-tier web application to AWS. The application consists of a web server, an application server, and a MySQL database. The company wants to minimize operational overhead and improve scalability. Which THREE AWS services should the company use to modernize the architecture? (Choose THREE.)
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
✓
Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)
(Elastic Load Balancing) distributes incoming traffic across multiple targets, improving scalability and availability. Option D (Amazon ECS with Fargate) runs containers without managing servers, reducing operational overhead. Option E (Amazon RDS for MySQL) manages the MySQL database with automated backups, patching, and scaling, minimizing administrative tasks. Option A (AWS Lambda) is not suitable for long-running application servers due to execution time limits and stateless nature. Option C (Amazon EC2 instances) requires manual management of instances, increasing operational overhead.
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
Why it's wrong here
Lambda is for short-running functions, not for web/application servers.
- ✓
Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)
Why this is correct
ELB distributes traffic to improve availability.
- ✗
Amazon EC2 instances
Why it's wrong here
EC2 instances require management; using ECS reduces overhead.
- ✓
Amazon ECS with Fargate
Why this is correct
ECS with Fargate runs containers without managing servers.
- ✓
Amazon RDS for MySQL
Why this is correct
RDS manages the database, reducing operational overhead.
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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Same concept, more angles
4 more ways 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 replatforming a legacy application to use AWS managed services. The application consists of a web server, an application server, and a MySQL database. Which THREE AWS services should the company use to modernize the architecture? (Choose THREE.)
hard- ✓ .Amazon RDS for MySQL
- ✓ A.Amazon ElastiCache
- B.Amazon EBS
- ✓ C.Elastic Load Balancing
- D.Amazon Route 53
- E.Amazon EC2
Why : To modernize the legacy application to use AWS managed services, the company should use Amazon RDS for MySQL to replace the self-managed MySQL database, Elastic Load Balancing to distribute traffic across web/application servers, and Amazon ElastiCache to add caching for improved performance. Amazon EBS is a block storage service, not a managed compute or database service. Amazon Route 53 is a DNS service and not relevant to the application architecture modernization in this context. Amazon EC2 is an unmanaged compute service, which does not align with the goal of using managed services.
Variation 2. A company is migrating a multi-tier web application to AWS. The application consists of a web server, application server, and Oracle database. Which TWO AWS services should be used to modernize the application while reducing operational overhead?
medium- ✓ A.Amazon RDS for Oracle
- B.Amazon Lightsail
- ✓ C.AWS Elastic Beanstalk
- D.Amazon EC2
- E.Amazon DynamoDB
Why A: (Amazon RDS for Oracle) is correct because it manages the Oracle database, reducing operational overhead compared to self-managed EC2. Option C (AWS Elastic Beanstalk) is correct because it automatically handles the deployment and scaling of the web and application servers, reducing operational overhead. Option B (Amazon Lightsail) is not suitable for complex multi-tier applications. Option D (Amazon EC2) would increase operational overhead as it requires manual management. Option E (Amazon DynamoDB) is a NoSQL database and not suitable for migrating an Oracle database.
Variation 3. A company is migrating a multi-tier web application to AWS. The application consists of a web tier, an application tier, and a database tier. The company wants to use AWS services to improve scalability and reduce management overhead. The web and application tiers run on Linux. The database is Oracle running on Linux. Which solution meets these requirements with the LEAST operational overhead?
medium- A.Deploy web and application tiers on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. Migrate the database to an Amazon RDS for Oracle DB instance.
- B.Containerize the web and application tiers and deploy them on Amazon ECS with AWS Fargate. Migrate the database to Amazon RDS for Oracle.
- ✓ C.Deploy the web and application tiers using AWS Elastic Beanstalk with an Auto Scaling group. Migrate the database to Amazon RDS for Oracle.
- D.Deploy web and application tiers on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. Migrate the database to Oracle on Amazon RDS Custom.
Why C: AWS Elastic Beanstalk automatically manages the capacity provisioning, load balancing, and scaling of the web and application tiers, significantly reducing management overhead. Amazon RDS for Oracle handles database administration tasks such as patching, backups, and replication. Option A (EC2 + Auto Scaling) requires manual configuration and management of EC2 instances, increasing operational overhead. Option B (ECS with Fargate) introduces containerization complexity that is not necessary for a straightforward migration and may require additional learning and orchestration. Option D (RDS Custom) provides more customization but at the cost of increased operational overhead compared to standard RDS. Therefore, Option C offers the least operational overhead.
Variation 4. A company is migrating a web application to AWS. The application consists of a stateless web tier, a stateful application tier, and a MySQL database. The company wants to use AWS managed services to improve scalability and reduce operational overhead. Which THREE services should the company use? (Choose THREE.)
hard- A.Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling
- B.Amazon S3
- ✓ C.Application Load Balancer
- ✓ D.Amazon ElastiCache for Redis
- ✓ E.Amazon RDS for MySQL
Why C: The correct choices are C, D, and E. For the stateless web tier, an Application Load Balancer (ALB) distributes traffic and integrates with Auto Scaling for scalability, but EC2 Auto Scaling itself is not a managed service for the database or stateful tier. The stateful application tier requires a managed in-memory caching service; Amazon ElastiCache for Redis is ideal for session state storage. The MySQL database should be migrated to Amazon RDS for MySQL, a managed relational database service that reduces operational overhead. Option A (EC2 Auto Scaling) is incorrect because it is an infrastructure-level scaling service, not a managed service for the database or stateful tier. Option B (S3) is incorrect because it is object storage, not suitable for stateful application data or session state.
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.