- A
Services in private subnets with a NAT Gateway and an ALB in public subnets.
Private subnets provide isolation, NAT for outbound, ALB for inbound.
- B
Services in private subnets with a VPC endpoint and an NLB.
Why wrong: NLB is not ideal for HTTP traffic.
- C
Services in a single public subnet with an ALB.
Why wrong: Single subnet lacks high availability.
- D
Services in public subnets with Internet Gateways and an ALB.
Why wrong: Public subnets expose services directly, less secure.
Question 77 of 1,746
SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design for new solutions. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 microservices architecture on ECS with Fargate. Services need to communicate securely within a VPC and be accessible from the internet via an Application Load Balancer. The solution must minimize operational overhead. Which networking configuration should be used?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"minimum / minimize"Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
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
✓
Services in private subnets with a NAT Gateway and an ALB in public subnets.
Option A is correct because placing ECS Fargate services in private subnets ensures they are not directly exposed to the internet, enhancing security. The Application Load Balancer (ALB) in public subnets handles internet-facing traffic and forwards requests to the private services. A NAT Gateway is required for the private services to initiate outbound internet access (e.g., for pulling container images or external dependencies), while the ALB provides inbound connectivity without exposing the services directly. This setup minimizes operational overhead by using AWS-managed components (Fargate, ALB, NAT Gateway) and avoids managing bastion hosts or custom routing.
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.
- ✓
Services in private subnets with a NAT Gateway and an ALB in public subnets.
Why this is correct
Private subnets provide isolation, NAT for outbound, ALB for inbound.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Services in private subnets with a VPC endpoint and an NLB.
Why it's wrong here
NLB is not ideal for HTTP traffic.
- ✗
Services in a single public subnet with an ALB.
Why it's wrong here
Single subnet lacks high availability.
- ✗
Services in public subnets with Internet Gateways and an ALB.
Why it's wrong here
Public subnets expose services directly, less secure.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse the need for a NAT Gateway with outbound-only internet access, mistakenly thinking private subnets cannot reach the internet at all, or they assume an NLB is sufficient for HTTP-based microservices without considering Layer 7 routing requirements.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, the ALB in public subnets uses an Internet Gateway (IGW) to receive traffic from the internet and then forwards it to the ECS tasks in private subnets via the VPC's internal routing. The NAT Gateway in a public subnet enables outbound traffic from private subnets by translating private IPs to the NAT's public IP, which is critical for tasks that need to download images from Amazon ECR or access external APIs. A common subtlety is that the ALB's security group must allow inbound traffic from the internet (0.0.0.0/0) on ports 80/443, while the ECS tasks' security group should only allow inbound traffic from the ALB's security group, creating a defense-in-depth pattern.
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
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
Visual reference
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: Services in private subnets with a NAT Gateway and an ALB in public subnets. — Option A is correct because placing ECS Fargate services in private subnets ensures they are not directly exposed to the internet, enhancing security. The Application Load Balancer (ALB) in public subnets handles internet-facing traffic and forwards requests to the private services. A NAT Gateway is required for the private services to initiate outbound internet access (e.g., for pulling container images or external dependencies), while the ALB provides inbound connectivity without exposing the services directly. This setup minimizes operational overhead by using AWS-managed components (Fargate, ALB, NAT Gateway) and avoids managing bastion hosts or custom routing.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "minimum / minimize". Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
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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