- A
Use a Network Load Balancer instead of an ALB
Why wrong: NLB is for TCP/UDP traffic, not HTTP.
- B
Use an Application Load Balancer with a single target group
Why wrong: This is not a step for high availability; multiple target groups are not required.
- C
Configure a health check on the ALB for the target group
Health checks allow ALB to detect unhealthy instances and stop routing traffic.
- D
Use an Auto Scaling group with a minimum of two instances across two Availability Zones
Auto Scaling ensures instances are replaced and distributed across AZs.
- E
Launch all EC2 instances in a single Availability Zone
Why wrong: Single AZ does not provide high availability.
Question 1,392 of 1,746
SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design for new solutions. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company is designing a new web application that will run on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application must be highly available across multiple Availability Zones. The company wants to ensure that if an EC2 instance fails, the load balancer stops sending traffic to it. Which two steps should the architect take? (Choose TWO.)
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
✓
Configure a health check on the ALB for the target group
Option C is correct because configuring a health check on the ALB for the target group allows the load balancer to periodically send health check requests to each registered EC2 instance. If an instance fails to respond with a healthy status (e.g., HTTP 200) within the configured interval and threshold, the ALB automatically deregisters it and stops routing traffic to it, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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 a Network Load Balancer instead of an ALB
- ✗
Use an Application Load Balancer with a single target group
Why it's wrong here
This is not a step for high availability; multiple target groups are not required.
- ✓
Configure a health check on the ALB for the target group
Why this is correct
Health checks allow ALB to detect unhealthy instances and stop routing traffic.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
Use an Auto Scaling group with a minimum of two instances across two Availability Zones
Why this is correct
Auto Scaling ensures instances are replaced and distributed across AZs.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Launch all EC2 instances in a single Availability Zone
Why it's wrong here
Single AZ does not provide high availability.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often think simply using an ALB or a single target group automatically provides health-based traffic routing, but without explicitly configuring a health check on the target group, the ALB will continue sending traffic to failed instances.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The ALB health check mechanism uses HTTP/HTTPS or TCP pings to a specified path (e.g., /health) on each target. The health check interval, unhealthy threshold, and healthy threshold are configurable; for example, a 30-second interval with 2 consecutive failures marks the instance unhealthy. Under the hood, the ALB maintains a health check state machine per target and updates the routing table accordingly, ensuring traffic is only sent to healthy instances without manual intervention.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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Design for New Solutions — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAP-C02 question test?
Design for New Solutions — This question tests Design for New Solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Configure a health check on the ALB for the target group — Option C is correct because configuring a health check on the ALB for the target group allows the load balancer to periodically send health check requests to each registered EC2 instance. If an instance fails to respond with a healthy status (e.g., HTTP 200) within the configured interval and threshold, the ALB automatically deregisters it and stops routing traffic to it, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance.
What should I do if I get this SAP-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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