SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company runs a critical workload on EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. The application is stateless and can handle instance failures. The architect needs to ensure that the application remains available during a regional outage. What is the MOST cost-effective and resilient architecture?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often choose a single-Region, multi-AZ option (A or B) because they assume high availability within a Region is sufficient, but the question explicitly requires resilience during a regional outage, which only multi-Region architectures can provide.
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
✓
Use an active-passive configuration with Auto Scaling groups in two Regions and Route 53 failover
It provides multi-Region resilience using an active-passive architecture, which is the most cost-effective approach for a stateless application that must survive a regional outage. The active-passive setup uses Route 53 failover routing to direct traffic to the primary Region under normal conditions and automatically fail over to the secondary Region only when the primary is unhealthy, minimizing ongoing costs by keeping the secondary infrastructure idle or minimal until needed.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Deploy the Auto Scaling group in a single Region with instances spread across two AZs
Why it's wrong here
Single region vulnerable to regional outage.
- ✗
Deploy the Auto Scaling group in three Availability Zones within a single Region
Why it's wrong here
This protects against AZ failure but not region failure.
- ✓
Use an active-passive configuration with Auto Scaling groups in two Regions and Route 53 failover
Why this is correct
Active-passive reduces cost; failover provides resilience.
- ✗
Use an active-active configuration across two Regions with Route 53 weighted routing
Why it's wrong here
Active-active is more expensive and may introduce complexity.
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