The answer is Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose with cross-account access. This is the correct choice because Kinesis Data Firehose can act as a centralized ingestion endpoint that receives log data from multiple AWS accounts via CloudWatch Logs subscription filters, then reliably buffers and delivers that data to a single Amazon OpenSearch Service domain in the central account. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how to architect a cross-account log aggregation pipeline without requiring each source account to manage its own destination. A common trap is selecting CloudWatch Logs subscription filters alone, but those filters can only forward to a single destination per log group and require manual setup in every account; Kinesis Firehose solves this by providing a scalable, serverless delivery stream that multiple accounts can subscribe to. For a memory tip, think "Firehose is the hose that sprays logs from many accounts into one OpenSearch bucket."
SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design solutions for organizational complexity. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 has a centralized logging solution using Amazon OpenSearch Service (Elasticsearch) and wants to ensure logs from all AWS accounts are shipped to a central account. Which AWS service can be used to collect and forward logs from multiple accounts to a single destination?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose delivery stream with cross-account access
Option B is correct because Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose can receive logs from multiple accounts via subscriptions and deliver to OpenSearch. Option A is wrong because CloudWatch Logs subscription can forward logs but requires each account to have a subscription filter. Option C is wrong because S3 is a destination, not a forwarding mechanism. Option D is wrong because Lambda can process logs but is not designed for centralized cross-account ingestion.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Amazon S3 bucket with cross-account bucket policy
Why it's wrong here
S3 can store logs but does not forward to OpenSearch directly.
✓
Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose delivery stream with cross-account access
Why this is correct
Firehose can accept data from multiple accounts via IAM roles and deliver to a central OpenSearch domain.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
✗
Amazon CloudWatch Logs subscription filter
Why it's wrong here
Subscription filters are per-log group and require manual setup in each account.
✗
AWS Lambda function in each account that sends logs to a central API
Why it's wrong here
Lambda functions can forward logs but this is less scalable and harder to manage than Firehose.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
→Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
→Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
→Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related SAP-C02 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — This question tests Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose delivery stream with cross-account access — Option B is correct because Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose can receive logs from multiple accounts via subscriptions and deliver to OpenSearch. Option A is wrong because CloudWatch Logs subscription can forward logs but requires each account to have a subscription filter. Option C is wrong because S3 is a destination, not a forwarding mechanism. Option D is wrong because Lambda can process logs but is not designed for centralized cross-account ingestion.
What should I do if I get this SAP-C02 question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related SAP-C02 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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Question Discussion
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