The correct choice is Amazon CloudFront as a CDN in front of the S3 bucket because it caches static content like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images at edge locations worldwide, providing global low latency while reducing load on the origin server. CloudFront’s distributed network ensures that users fetch data from the nearest edge, minimizing round-trip time, and its origin shield feature further offloads requests from the S3 bucket. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how to combine S3 static website hosting with a CDN for global performance, often appearing as a distractor against using S3 Transfer Acceleration or multiple regional buckets. A common trap is assuming S3 alone can serve a global audience with low latency, but S3 is regional by design. Memory tip: think “Edge first, S3 last” — CloudFront edges cache first, S3 serves as the shielded origin.
SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design for new solutions. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 solution to host a static website with global audience. The website content includes HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images. The company wants to minimize latency for users worldwide and reduce the load on the origin server. The origin server is an Amazon S3 bucket configured for static website hosting. Which solution should be used to achieve these goals?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "minimum / minimize"
Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use Amazon CloudFront as a content delivery network (CDN) in front of the S3 bucket.
Amazon CloudFront is a global content delivery network (CDN) that caches static content (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images) at edge locations worldwide, significantly reducing latency for a global audience. By placing CloudFront in front of an S3 bucket configured for static website hosting, it offloads requests from the origin server, reducing load and improving performance. CloudFront also supports features like custom SSL, geo-restriction, and origin shield to further optimize delivery.
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.
✗
Use AWS Global Accelerator to route traffic to the S3 bucket.
Why it's wrong here
Global Accelerator improves network routing but does not cache content at edge.
✗
Use AWS Lambda@Edge to serve content from edge locations.
Why it's wrong here
Lambda@Edge runs code but does not cache static content; CloudFront does caching.
✓
Use Amazon CloudFront as a content delivery network (CDN) in front of the S3 bucket.
Why this is correct
CloudFront caches content at edge locations, reducing latency and origin load.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Enable S3 Transfer Acceleration on the bucket.
Why it's wrong here
Transfer Acceleration speeds up uploads, not content delivery to end users.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is confusing content delivery (CloudFront) with network acceleration (Global Accelerator) or upload acceleration (S3 Transfer Acceleration), leading candidates to pick options that improve network routing but do not cache or serve static content at edge locations.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
CloudFront uses a global network of over 600 Points of Presence (PoPs) to cache static objects based on TTL headers (e.g., Cache-Control max-age). When a user requests content, CloudFront serves it from the nearest edge location if cached, otherwise it fetches from the S3 origin and caches it for subsequent requests. This reduces origin load and latency by up to 50-90% compared to direct S3 access, especially for users far from the S3 bucket's region.
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 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.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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 Amazon CloudFront as a content delivery network (CDN) in front of the S3 bucket. — Amazon CloudFront is a global content delivery network (CDN) that caches static content (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images) at edge locations worldwide, significantly reducing latency for a global audience. By placing CloudFront in front of an S3 bucket configured for static website hosting, it offloads requests from the origin server, reducing load and improving performance. CloudFront also supports features like custom SSL, geo-restriction, and origin shield to further optimize delivery.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "minimum / minimize". Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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