SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company wants to implement a serverless architecture where an AWS Lambda function is triggered whenever a new object is uploaded to an S3 bucket. Which S3 feature should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse S3 Event Notifications with S3 Inventory or S3 Object Lock, thinking any S3 feature that 'tracks' or 'protects' objects can trigger code, but only Event Notifications provide real-time, push-based triggers to Lambda.
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
✓
S3 Event Notifications
S3 Event Notifications allow you to configure S3 to publish events (e.g., s3:ObjectCreated:Put) to AWS Lambda, SQS, or SNS whenever an object is uploaded. This is the native serverless integration that triggers a Lambda function directly from S3 without polling or custom code.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
S3 Object Lock
Why it's wrong here
S3 Object Lock applies WORM retention to prevent deletion or overwriting of objects; it generates no notification, so Lambda is never triggered. It is tempting because it is a bucket-level protection feature, and would be correct when regulatory immutability of stored objects is required, not event-driven processing.
- ✗
S3 Transfer Acceleration
Why it's wrong here
S3 Transfer Acceleration speeds up uploads over long distances using edge locations; it emits no event notification, so Lambda is never invoked. It is tempting because it concerns object uploads, and would be correct when the requirement is faster cross-region transfer of large objects, not event-driven compute.
- ✓
S3 Event Notifications
Why this is correct
S3 Event Notifications publish s3:ObjectCreated events to Lambda via a bucket notification configuration, invoking the function per uploaded object. This native push mechanism satisfies the serverless trigger requirement without polling, and supports prefix/suffix filtering to scope which uploads fire.
- ✗
S3 Inventory
Why it's wrong here
S3 Inventory produces scheduled CSV or Parquet reports listing objects and their metadata; it does not publish events, so Lambda cannot be triggered. It is tempting because it reports on bucket contents, and would be correct for auditing or reconciling large object populations, not for real-time invocation.
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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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.