SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
Network Topology
An ALB is configured with a target group for HTTP:80. The health check returns a 302 redirect. What is the most likely cause of the unhealthy instances?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume a redirect is harmless or that the ALB will follow it, but the ALB strictly evaluates the first response status code against the configured success codes, and a 302 is not a success by default.
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
✓
The application is redirecting health checks to another URL.
The ALB health check expects a 200 OK response from the target. A 302 redirect indicates the application is responding with a redirect (e.g., HTTP to HTTPS or to a login page) instead of a success status. This causes the health check to fail because the ALB does not follow redirects for health checks; it only accepts the configured success codes (default 200).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The application is returning a 500 Internal Server Error.
Why it's wrong here
A 500 error would surface as an HTTP 500 health check response, not a 302. The 302 indicates the health check path redirects, typically to HTTPS or a login page. A 500 would be the cause when the application itself genuinely fails, which the stem's 302 excludes.
- ✗
The application is taking too long to respond.
Why it's wrong here
Slow responses produce health check timeouts, reported as timeouts rather than a 302 status code. The 302 shows the target returned a redirect, so the health check path itself is misconfigured. Timeouts would be the cause when the application exceeds the health check timeout threshold.
- ✗
The security group is blocking health check traffic.
Why it's wrong here
A blocking security group causes connection timeouts, not an HTTP 302 response; the ALB would never receive a status code. The 302 proves traffic reached the application. Security group misconfiguration would be the cause when health checks time out with no response at all.
- ✓
The application is redirecting health checks to another URL.
Why this is correct
The ALB health check expects a 200 response; a 302 indicates the application redirects the health check path elsewhere, so the target never returns success and is marked unhealthy. The redirect, not the target itself, causes the failure.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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