- A
Launch EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group across multiple Availability Zones.
Provides fault tolerance across AZs.
- B
Use a larger EC2 instance type to handle failures.
Why wrong: Instance size does not provide fault tolerance.
- C
Configure health checks on the ALB target group to automatically replace unhealthy instances.
Automatically recovers from failures.
- D
Configure the ALB to route traffic to instances in multiple Availability Zones.
Distributes traffic across AZs.
- E
Use a single Availability Zone to reduce latency.
Why wrong: Single AZ is not fault-tolerant.
Question 547 of 1,746
SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design for new solutions. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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 be deployed on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application must be highly available and fault-tolerant across multiple Availability Zones. Which THREE actions should the company take to meet these requirements? (Choose three.)
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
✓
Launch EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group across multiple Availability Zones.
Option A is correct because launching EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group across multiple Availability Zones ensures that the application can withstand the failure of an entire Availability Zone. The Auto Scaling group automatically maintains the desired instance count across the specified zones, providing fault tolerance and high availability.
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.
- ✓
Launch EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group across multiple Availability Zones.
Why this is correct
Provides fault tolerance across AZs.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use a larger EC2 instance type to handle failures.
Why it's wrong here
Instance size does not provide fault tolerance.
- ✓
Configure health checks on the ALB target group to automatically replace unhealthy instances.
Why this is correct
Automatically recovers from failures.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
Configure the ALB to route traffic to instances in multiple Availability Zones.
Why this is correct
Distributes traffic across AZs.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use a single Availability Zone to reduce latency.
Why it's wrong here
Single AZ is not fault-tolerant.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse vertical scaling (larger instances) with horizontal scaling and fault tolerance, or mistakenly think that using a single Availability Zone can be compensated by other means, ignoring the fundamental requirement for multi-AZ deployment.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, the ALB distributes traffic to healthy targets in all enabled Availability Zones. When combined with an Auto Scaling group that spans multiple zones, the ALB can immediately route traffic away from a failed zone to healthy instances in other zones. The health checks are performed at the target group level using HTTP/HTTPS or TCP probes, and the Auto Scaling group uses EC2 status checks to replace unhealthy instances automatically.
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.
- →
Design for New Solutions — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
- →
Design for New Solutions practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
- →
All SAP-C02 questions
1,746 questions across all exam domains
- →
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
- →
SAP-C02 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Related SAP-C02 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity practice questions
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity.
Design for New Solutions practice questions
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to Design for New Solutions.
Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions practice questions
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions.
Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization practice questions
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to Accelerate Workload Migration and Modernization.
SAA-C03 VPC practice questions
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC.
SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions.
SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions.
SAA-C03 IAM policy practice questions
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 IAM policy.
SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions.
SAA-C03 CloudFront practice questions
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 CloudFront.
SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions.
SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions
Practise SAP-C02 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions.
Practice this exam
Start a free SAP-C02 practice session
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
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: Launch EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group across multiple Availability Zones. — Option A is correct because launching EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group across multiple Availability Zones ensures that the application can withstand the failure of an entire Availability Zone. The Auto Scaling group automatically maintains the desired instance count across the specified zones, providing fault tolerance and high availability.
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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Keep practising
More SAP-C02 practice questions
- A company wants to automate the migration of on-premises servers to AWS. The migration plan includes discovery, assessme…
- A company is using AWS Organizations with hundreds of accounts. The central IT team needs to deploy a common set of AWS…
- A multinational company operates a multi-account AWS environment using AWS Organizations. The security team needs to enf…
- A company has a multi-account AWS environment with a centralized logging account. The security team needs to analyze VPC…
- A company has multiple AWS accounts and wants to centralize logging of all API calls. Which TWO services should be used…
- Match each AWS compute service to its use case.
Last reviewed: Jul 4, 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.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.