- A
Amazon Cognito
Why wrong: Amazon Cognito is for external identity providers and user pools, not for on-premises AD integration.
- B
AWS Direct Connect
Why wrong: Direct Connect provides dedicated network connection but does not handle authentication or SSO.
- C
AD Connector
AD Connector connects AWS services to on-premises AD, enabling SSO and authentication.
- D
AWS Single Sign-On (SSO)
Why wrong: AWS SSO is a separate SSO service that can integrate with AD, but it is not required when using AD Connector and IAM.
- E
AWS Managed Microsoft AD
AWS Managed Microsoft AD provides a fully managed Active Directory in multiple regions, supports multi-region authentication.
Question 970 of 1,746
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 multinational corporation is migrating its on-premises Active Directory to AWS. The company requires a solution that supports multi-region authentication for thousands of users and integrates with existing on-premises Active Directory for seamless SSO. The solution must be highly available and provide low-latency authentication. Which TWO AWS services should be combined to meet these requirements? (Choose two.)
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
✓
AD Connector
AD Connector (Option C) is correct because it acts as a proxy to redirect authentication requests from AWS services to your on-premises Active Directory without caching credentials or requiring directory synchronization, enabling seamless SSO for users. AWS Managed Microsoft AD (Option E) is correct because it provides a highly available, fully managed Active Directory in the AWS cloud that can be extended to multiple regions via trust relationships, supporting low-latency authentication for thousands of users across regions.
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.
- ✗
Amazon Cognito
Why it's wrong here
Amazon Cognito is for external identity providers and user pools, not for on-premises AD integration.
- ✗
AWS Direct Connect
Why it's wrong here
Direct Connect provides dedicated network connection but does not handle authentication or SSO.
- ✓
AD Connector
Why this is correct
AD Connector connects AWS services to on-premises AD, enabling SSO and authentication.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
AWS Single Sign-On (SSO)
Why it's wrong here
AWS SSO is a separate SSO service that can integrate with AD, but it is not required when using AD Connector and IAM.
- ✓
AWS Managed Microsoft AD
Why this is correct
AWS Managed Microsoft AD provides a fully managed Active Directory in multiple regions, supports multi-region authentication.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse AWS Single Sign-On (SSO) as a standalone identity provider, but it requires an underlying directory service (like AWS Managed Microsoft AD or AD Connector) to authenticate against on-premises Active Directory, making it an incomplete solution on its own.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
AD Connector uses the Kerberos and LDAP protocols to forward authentication requests to on-premises AD, but it does not support features like Group Policy or schema extensions, making it suitable only for authentication and authorization. AWS Managed Microsoft AD supports multi-region deployments by establishing trust relationships between directories in different AWS Regions, enabling users to authenticate with low latency by using a local directory replica. In a real-world scenario, a company with users in North America and Europe would deploy AWS Managed Microsoft AD in both us-east-1 and eu-west-1, with a two-way trust to on-premises AD, and use AD Connector in each region to proxy authentication for legacy applications that cannot directly integrate with AWS Managed Microsoft AD.
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.
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 Solutions for Organizational Complexity — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAP-C02 question test?
Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — This question tests Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: AD Connector — AD Connector (Option C) is correct because it acts as a proxy to redirect authentication requests from AWS services to your on-premises Active Directory without caching credentials or requiring directory synchronization, enabling seamless SSO for users. AWS Managed Microsoft AD (Option E) is correct because it provides a highly available, fully managed Active Directory in the AWS cloud that can be extended to multiple regions via trust relationships, supporting low-latency authentication for thousands of users across regions.
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.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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