SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company wants to provide temporary access to an S3 bucket for external partners. The access must be time-limited and restricted to specific objects. Which AWS service or feature should they use?
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
✓
Presigned URLs
Presigned URLs provide temporary, time-limited access to specific S3 objects without requiring AWS credentials. Option A (bucket policies) apply to all principals and cannot be restricted to specific users or time-limited directly. Option B (CloudFront signed URLs) are used for controlling access to content delivered via CloudFront, not for direct S3 access. Option D (IAM roles) require the user to have AWS credentials and assume the role, which is not suitable for temporary external access.
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 bucket policies
Why it's wrong here
Bucket policies are not time-limited.
- ✗
CloudFront signed URLs
Why it's wrong here
Signed URLs are for CloudFront distribution, not direct S3 access.
- ✓
Presigned URLs
Why this is correct
Presigned URLs grant time-limited access to specific objects.
- ✗
IAM roles
Why it's wrong here
IAM roles require the partner to have AWS credentials.
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.