- A
Deploy the Auto Scaling group in a single Region with instances spread across two AZs
Why wrong: Single region vulnerable to regional outage.
- B
Deploy the Auto Scaling group in three Availability Zones within a single Region
Why wrong: This protects against AZ failure but not region failure.
- C
Use an active-passive configuration with Auto Scaling groups in two Regions and Route 53 failover
Active-passive reduces cost; failover provides resilience.
- D
Use an active-active configuration across two Regions with Route 53 weighted routing
Why wrong: Active-active is more expensive and may introduce complexity.
Question 1,484 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 runs a critical workload on EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. The application is stateless and can handle instance failures. The architect needs to ensure that the application remains available during a regional outage. What is the MOST cost-effective and resilient architecture?
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 an active-passive configuration with Auto Scaling groups in two Regions and Route 53 failover
Option C is correct because it provides multi-Region resilience using an active-passive architecture, which is the most cost-effective approach for a stateless application that must survive a regional outage. The active-passive setup uses Route 53 failover routing to direct traffic to the primary Region under normal conditions and automatically fail over to the secondary Region only when the primary is unhealthy, minimizing ongoing costs by keeping the secondary infrastructure idle or minimal until needed.
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.
- ✗
Deploy the Auto Scaling group in a single Region with instances spread across two AZs
Why it's wrong here
Single region vulnerable to regional outage.
- ✗
Deploy the Auto Scaling group in three Availability Zones within a single Region
Why it's wrong here
This protects against AZ failure but not region failure.
- ✓
Use an active-passive configuration with Auto Scaling groups in two Regions and Route 53 failover
Why this is correct
Active-passive reduces cost; failover provides resilience.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use an active-active configuration across two Regions with Route 53 weighted routing
Why it's wrong here
Active-active is more expensive and may introduce complexity.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often choose a single-Region, multi-AZ option (A or B) because they assume high availability within a Region is sufficient, but the question explicitly requires resilience during a regional outage, which only multi-Region architectures can provide.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Route 53 failover routing relies on health checks to determine the status of the primary endpoint; when the health check fails, DNS resolution automatically returns the secondary endpoint's IP address. In an active-passive setup, the secondary Region can be configured with a minimal Auto Scaling group (e.g., one instance) and scale up only after failover, leveraging lifecycle hooks or custom metrics to reduce costs. This contrasts with active-active, where both Regions must be fully scaled to handle traffic, doubling infrastructure costs even during normal operation.
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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
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: Use an active-passive configuration with Auto Scaling groups in two Regions and Route 53 failover — Option C is correct because it provides multi-Region resilience using an active-passive architecture, which is the most cost-effective approach for a stateless application that must survive a regional outage. The active-passive setup uses Route 53 failover routing to direct traffic to the primary Region under normal conditions and automatically fail over to the secondary Region only when the primary is unhealthy, minimizing ongoing costs by keeping the secondary infrastructure idle or minimal until needed.
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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