- A
Use Elastic Load Balancer, Amazon EC2 instances for the web tier, and Amazon ECS with Fargate for the application tier, and Amazon RDS for MySQL.
Why wrong: Using EC2 for the web tier still requires managing instances, not fully serverless.
- B
Use Application Load Balancer, Amazon ECS with Fargate for both web and application tiers, and Amazon Aurora MySQL.
Fargate eliminates server management, and Aurora provides managed MySQL with high availability.
- C
Use Amazon CloudFront, Amazon EC2 instances for the application tier, and Amazon DynamoDB.
Why wrong: EC2 for application tier adds overhead, and DynamoDB is not MySQL-compatible.
- D
Use Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling groups for both web and application tiers, and Amazon RDS for MySQL with Multi-AZ.
Why wrong: EC2 instances require manual patching and scaling management, increasing operational overhead.
Quick Answer
The correct combination is Application Load Balancer, Amazon ECS with Fargate, and Amazon Aurora MySQL. This architecture modernizes e-commerce infrastructure by replacing self-managed EC2 instances with serverless containers for the web and application tiers, while Aurora provides a fully managed, MySQL-compatible database with built-in high availability and auto-scaling. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your ability to distinguish between managed and unmanaged services when minimizing operational overhead—a common trap is selecting options that still rely on EC2 for one tier, which defeats the purpose of modernization. Remember the memory tip: “Fargate for the fleet, Aurora for the data seat”—if any tier uses EC2 directly, you’re not fully modernizing.
SAP-C02 Practice Question: Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of accelerate workload migration and modernization. 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 is planning to migrate a large-scale e-commerce platform from on-premises to AWS. The platform includes a web tier, application tier, and a MySQL database. The company needs to ensure high availability and scalability. Which combination of AWS services should the company use to modernize the application architecture while minimizing operational overhead?
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
Use Application Load Balancer, Amazon ECS with Fargate for both web and application tiers, and Amazon Aurora MySQL.
Option C is correct because Application Load Balancer distributes traffic, Amazon ECS with Fargate runs containers without managing servers, and Amazon Aurora is a managed MySQL-compatible database with high availability and scalability. Option A is incorrect because it lacks a load balancer and uses unmanaged EC2. Option B is incorrect because it uses unmanaged EC2 for the web tier. Option D is incorrect because it uses unmanaged EC2 for the application tier.
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.
- ✗
Use Elastic Load Balancer, Amazon EC2 instances for the web tier, and Amazon ECS with Fargate for the application tier, and Amazon RDS for MySQL.
Why it's wrong here
Using EC2 for the web tier still requires managing instances, not fully serverless.
- ✓
Use Application Load Balancer, Amazon ECS with Fargate for both web and application tiers, and Amazon Aurora MySQL.
Why this is correct
Fargate eliminates server management, and Aurora provides managed MySQL with high availability.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- ✗
Use Amazon CloudFront, Amazon EC2 instances for the application tier, and Amazon DynamoDB.
Why it's wrong here
EC2 for application tier adds overhead, and DynamoDB is not MySQL-compatible.
- ✗
Use Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling groups for both web and application tiers, and Amazon RDS for MySQL with Multi-AZ.
Why it's wrong here
EC2 instances require manual patching and scaling management, increasing operational overhead.
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.
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Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAP-C02 question test?
Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization — This question tests Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use Application Load Balancer, Amazon ECS with Fargate for both web and application tiers, and Amazon Aurora MySQL. — Option C is correct because Application Load Balancer distributes traffic, Amazon ECS with Fargate runs containers without managing servers, and Amazon Aurora is a managed MySQL-compatible database with high availability and scalability. Option A is incorrect because it lacks a load balancer and uses unmanaged EC2. Option B is incorrect because it uses unmanaged EC2 for the web tier. Option D is incorrect because it uses unmanaged EC2 for the application tier.
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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Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026
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.
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