SAP-C02 CloudFront Invalidation Practice Question
A company is using Amazon CloudFront with an S3 origin. They notice that users are receiving outdated content. What configuration change should be made to ensure users always get the latest content?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse access control mechanisms (signed URLs) or performance tuning (compression, TTL) with cache invalidation, when the actual problem is stale cached content at the edge.
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
✓
Create an invalidation for the objects.
CloudFront caches objects at edge locations based on the origin's cache headers and the distribution's TTL settings. When content at the S3 origin is updated but the cached object has not yet expired, users continue to receive the stale version. Creating an invalidation explicitly removes the specified objects from all edge caches, forcing CloudFront to fetch the fresh version from S3 on the next request. This is the standard, immediate remediation for serving outdated content.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use signed URLs to serve content.
Why it's wrong here
Signed URLs control who may access objects, not how long CloudFront caches them, so stale content persists. It is tempting because signed URLs are a real CloudFront access-control feature, and they would be correct when restricting private content distribution rather than refreshing cached objects.
- ✓
Create an invalidation for the objects.
Why this is correct
An invalidation removes cached objects from CloudFront edge locations before their TTL expires, forcing subsequent requests to fetch the current version from the S3 origin. This satisfies the stem's requirement that users always receive the latest content.
- ✗
Enable compression on the S3 bucket.
Why it's wrong here
S3 compression reduces object transfer size; it does not affect CloudFront's cached copies or their expiry, so users still receive outdated content. It is tempting because compression is a legitimate S3 and CloudFront optimisation, but it would be the right choice for reducing bandwidth, not for cache freshness.
- ✗
Reduce the TTL to 0 in the CloudFront distribution.
Why it's wrong here
Setting the minimum TTL to 0 still lets CloudFront serve cached objects until the origin's Cache-Control max-age expires, so stale content remains. It is tempting because TTL governs caching, but the correct fix is invalidating objects or setting the origin's cache headers to no-cache.
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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JA
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.