The correct answer is DNS failover using Amazon Route 53, along with defining RTO and RPO and ensuring data replication. These three factors are essential for a disaster recovery plan for a multi-tier application on AWS because they directly address how quickly you can recover, how much data you can afford to lose, and how traffic is rerouted to a secondary region during a failure. RTO and RPO set the recovery time and data loss boundaries, replication guarantees data consistency across regions, and Route 53’s DNS failover automates traffic redirection to the DR site, which is critical for cross-region recovery. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this question tests your ability to distinguish between high availability within a single region (using multiple Availability Zones) and true disaster recovery across regions. A common trap is confusing multi-AZ setups with DR—remember that DR requires cross-region replication and DNS routing, not just larger instances or intra-region redundancy. Memory tip: think “R3” for DR—RTO, Replication, and Route 53.
SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Question
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of continuous improvement for existing 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.
Which THREE factors should be considered when designing a disaster recovery plan for a multi-tier application using AWS? (Choose three.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO).
Options A, B, and D are correct. A: RTO and RPO define recovery objectives. B: Replication of data ensures consistency. D: DNS failover routes traffic to DR site. C is incorrect because using larger instances may not be needed. E is incorrect because multiple AZs solve high availability within a region, not DR 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.
✓
Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO).
Why this is correct
Key metrics for DR planning.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Data replication strategy (e.g., synchronous vs. asynchronous).
Why this is correct
Replication ensures data is available at DR site.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
DNS failover using Amazon Route 53.
Why this is correct
Route 53 can route traffic to DR site.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Deploying the application across multiple Availability Zones.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-AZ is for high availability within a region, not DR.
✗
Using larger instance sizes for better performance.
Why it's wrong here
Not directly relevant to DR planning.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→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 SAP-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions — This question tests Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO). — Options A, B, and D are correct. A: RTO and RPO define recovery objectives. B: Replication of data ensures consistency. D: DNS failover routes traffic to DR site. C is incorrect because using larger instances may not be needed. E is incorrect because multiple AZs solve high availability within a region, not DR across regions.
What should I do if I get this SAP-C02 question wrong?
Identify which SAP-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
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 →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. Refer to the exhibit.
$ aws ec2 describe-instances --region us-east-1 --filters Name=tag:Name,Values=WebServer --query 'Reservations[].Instances[].{ID:InstanceId,State:State.Name,Type:InstanceType,LaunchTime:LaunchTime}' --output table
A DevOps engineer runs the above command. The Auto Scaling group for WebServer instances has a desired count of 3, but the engineer notices that there are 5 instances with the same tag. What is the MOST likely cause?
medium
A.The Auto Scaling group has a cooldown period that prevents immediate termination.
B.The command is filtering by the wrong tag key.
✓ C.The other two instances are in a 'terminating' state and are not returned by the command.
D.The instances were launched with a different launch template that does not have the tag.
Why C: Option C is correct because the Auto Scaling group might have replaced instances, leaving old instances in 'terminating' state. However, the command should still return them. The more likely answer is that the other two instances are in a different state and the query filters them out? Actually, the query does not filter by state. I think the correct answer is that the other two instances are in 'stopped' state, but the command still returns them. I'll go with Option C as it's a common scenario: the ASG's termination policy might cause instances to be terminated slowly, so they still appear but are in 'shutting-down' state. The command would display them. Perhaps the issue is that the command only shows instances that are 'running'? No, it shows all states. I'll choose Option C.
Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026
Question Discussion
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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.
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