Quick Answer
The answer is to use a Network Load Balancer (NLB) together with an Application Load Balancer (ALB) in a multi-AZ deployment. The NLB provides a static IP per Availability Zone for whitelisting by third-party services, operating at Layer 4 to preserve the client source IP and maintain stateful web application traffic. The ALB is then placed behind the NLB to handle Layer 7 routing, such as path-based or host-based rules, while the NLB’s fixed IP addresses remain the single whitelistable endpoint. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this pattern tests your understanding of combining load balancer layers to meet both static IP and advanced routing requirements—a common trap is assuming the ALB alone can provide static IPs, which it cannot. Remember the memory tip: “NLB for the IP, ALB for the trip,” meaning the NLB anchors the fixed address while the ALB directs the traffic.
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design solutions for organizational complexity. 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 planning to migrate its on-premises workload to AWS. The workload consists of a stateful web application that requires a static IP address for whitelisting by third-party services. The company will use a multi-AZ deployment. Which TWO services should be used together to meet these requirements?
Amazon Route 53
Why wrong: Route 53 is DNS, not a load balancer.
Amazon CloudFront
Why wrong: CloudFront provides static IPs but is for CDN.
Network Load Balancer (NLB)
NLB can provide static IP addresses for whitelisting.
Application Load Balancer (ALB)
ALB distributes traffic and supports health checks.
AWS Global Accelerator
Why wrong: Global Accelerator provides static IPs but adds complexity; not required for single-region.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Network Load Balancer (NLB)
A Network Load Balancer (NLB) provides a static IP address per Availability Zone, which can be whitelisted by third-party services. It operates at Layer 4 and can handle stateful web application traffic without modifying the source IP, preserving client IP visibility for the application. Combined with a multi-AZ deployment, the NLB ensures high availability and a fixed IP endpoint for external whitelisting.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Amazon Route 53
Why it's wrong here
Route 53 is DNS, not a load balancer.
Amazon CloudFront
Why it's wrong here
CloudFront provides static IPs but is for CDN.
Network Load Balancer (NLB)
Why this is correct
NLB can provide static IP addresses for whitelisting.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Application Load Balancer (ALB)
Why this is correct
ALB distributes traffic and supports health checks.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS Global Accelerator
Why it's wrong here
Global Accelerator provides static IPs but adds complexity; not required for single-region.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse AWS Global Accelerator's static IPs with NLB's static IPs, but Global Accelerator is optimized for global traffic and adds unnecessary complexity and cost for a single-region multi-AZ deployment where per-AZ static IPs are sufficient for whitelisting.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, an NLB assigns a static IP address per subnet (AZ) and uses a flow hash algorithm to route traffic to targets, preserving source IP and port for stateful applications. In a multi-AZ deployment, each NLB node in an AZ has its own static IP, and cross-zone load balancing can be enabled to distribute traffic evenly. A real-world scenario is a financial application that requires third-party APIs to whitelist a fixed IP; the NLB's static IPs per AZ ensure that even if one AZ fails, the other static IP remains reachable, maintaining whitelist validity.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — This question tests Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Network Load Balancer (NLB) — A Network Load Balancer (NLB) provides a static IP address per Availability Zone, which can be whitelisted by third-party services. It operates at Layer 4 and can handle stateful web application traffic without modifying the source IP, preserving client IP visibility for the application. Combined with a multi-AZ deployment, the NLB ensures high availability and a fixed IP endpoint for external whitelisting.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Same concept, more angles
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Variation 1. A company wants to implement a data lake on AWS with data from multiple sources. They need to store data in its raw format and allow multiple teams to query it using different tools. Which service should be used as the central storage layer?
easyWhy C: Amazon S3 is the correct choice because it provides a highly durable, scalable, and cost-effective object storage service that can store data in its raw, native format (e.g., CSV, JSON, Parquet, images). It supports multiple query engines like Amazon Athena, Amazon Redshift Spectrum, and AWS Glue, allowing diverse teams to query the same data using different tools without data movement.
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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