SAP-C02 Least Outstanding Requests (LOR) Practice Question
A company runs a web application on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application experiences high request latency during peak traffic. A solutions architect discovers that the ALB is not distributing traffic evenly across the instances. The instances have different sizes (t3.large and t3.xlarge). Which TWO actions should the solutions architect take to improve load distribution?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often mistake connection draining for a load-distribution mechanism. It only handles in-flight requests during deregistration.
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
✓
Replace all instances with the same instance type.
The correct answers are B and C. Option B: Using the same instance type ensures uniform capacity, so round-robin routing distributes traffic evenly. Option C: Changing the routing algorithm to least outstanding requests (LOR) distributes traffic based on pending requests, naturally giving more traffic to larger instances (t3.xlarge) and balancing load despite size differences. Option A (connection draining) helps with graceful deregistration but does not improve distribution. Option D (sticky sessions) worsens distribution by pinning users. Option E (increasing deregistration delay) does not affect distribution.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable connection draining on the target group.
Why it's wrong here
Connection draining ensures ongoing requests complete before an instance is deregistered; it does not improve load distribution.
- ✓
Replace all instances with the same instance type.
Why this is correct
Using the same instance type eliminates capacity differences, allowing round-robin to distribute evenly.
- ✓
Change the ALB routing algorithm from round robin to least outstanding requests.
Why this is correct
Least outstanding requests algorithm accounts for differences in instance sizes by sending new requests to instances with fewer pending requests.
- ✗
Enable sticky sessions (session affinity) on the target group.
Why it's wrong here
Sticky sessions tie a user to a specific instance, which can lead to uneven distribution.
- ✗
Increase the deregistration delay (connection draining) on the target group to 300 seconds.
Why it's wrong here
Increasing deregistration delay only extends the period for in-flight requests; it does not balance load.
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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.