PAS-C01 Technology Practice Question
A company has deployed SAP BusinessObjects (BO) on AWS using a multi-tier architecture with a Windows-based application server and a SQL Server database hosted on Amazon RDS. The application server is behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB) that handles HTTPS traffic. Users report that sometimes they receive a '502 Bad Gateway' error when accessing the BO web interface. The error occurs intermittently and is not reproducible on demand. The operations team checks the ALB logs and sees that the target response time occasionally exceeds 120 seconds. The BO application has a default timeout of 60 seconds. The team also notices that the ALB idle timeout is set to 60 seconds. What is the most likely cause of the 502 errors?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse the ALB idle timeout with the deregistration delay or database connection limits, leading candidates to choose options that address unrelated bottlenecks instead of the direct cause of the 502 error.
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
✓
Increase the idle timeout of the Application Load Balancer to 180 seconds.
The 502 errors occur because the ALB idle timeout (60 seconds) matches the BO application's default timeout (60 seconds), but the ALB logs show target response times occasionally exceed 120 seconds. When the ALB idle timeout expires before the backend completes its response, the ALB closes the connection and returns a 502 error. Increasing the ALB idle timeout to 180 seconds allows sufficient time for the backend to respond, preventing premature connection termination.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Place an Amazon CloudFront distribution in front of the ALB to cache responses and reduce load.
Why it's wrong here
CloudFront caching does not affect the ALB timeout; dynamic requests still go to the ALB and may still timeout.
- ✗
Increase the max_connections parameter in the RDS SQL Server instance.
Why it's wrong here
The 502 error is due to ALB timeout, not database connection limits.
- ✓
Increase the idle timeout of the Application Load Balancer to 180 seconds.
Why this is correct
The ALB request timeout (idle timeout) can be increased to accommodate longer application processing times, preventing premature connection closure.
- ✗
Increase the deregistration delay on the ALB target group to 300 seconds.
Why it's wrong here
The deregistration delay affects how long the ALB waits before removing a target from rotation, not request timeouts.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PAS-C01 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 PAS-C01 exam.