SOA-C02 Geoproximity routing Practice Question
A company is using Amazon Route 53 as its DNS service. The SysOps team needs to route traffic to multiple resources based on the geographic location of the users. Which TWO routing policies can achieve this? (Select TWO.)
⚠ Common exam trap
The question asks for two geographic routing policies, but only Geoproximity routing and Geolocation routing are based on geographic location. Candidates might mistakenly think there is a third correct option, such as latency-based routing, but that uses network latency, not geography. This can cause confusion.
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
✓
Geoproximity routing
The question asks for two routing policies that route traffic based on geographic location. Geoproximity routing (Option A) and Geolocation routing (Option E) are the correct choices. Geoproximity routing considers both geographic location and optional bias, while Geolocation routing uses strict geographic boundaries. Latency-based routing (Option D) routes based on network latency, not geography, even if latency often correlates with distance. Simple routing (Option B) and Failover routing (Option C) do not use geographic information at all.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Geoproximity routing
Why this is correct
Geoproximity routing uses the geographic location of both the user and the AWS resource to route traffic, and it supports an optional bias value that expands or shrinks the route-to-resource region. For example, you can set a positive bias to direct more traffic to a specific AWS Region, or a negative bias to move traffic away from it. This makes it ideal for gradually shifting traffic between regions while still basing routing on physical proximity.
- ✗
Simple routing
Why it's wrong here
Simple routing is the most basic Route 53 policy: all traffic for a record is directed to a single resource, such as one web server, even if multiple values are listed in the record. There is no logic based on user origin, network latency, or resource location, so every DNS query receives the same response. This policy is only appropriate when you have one resource serving the entire user base.
- ✗
Failover routing
Why it's wrong here
Failover routing is designed for active-passive redundancy, not geographic distribution. With this policy, Route 53 routes all traffic to a primary resource unless a health check fails, then it automatically switches to a secondary resource. It has no awareness of where the end user is located, so it cannot route users to the closest or most appropriate geographic region.
- ✗
Latency-based routing
Why it's wrong here
Latency-based routing selects the AWS Region that offers the lowest network latency for the user, which often correlates with proximity but is not strictly geographic. Latency can be affected by internet backbone conditions, peering agreements, and regional congestion, so a user physically close to one region might receive better performance from another. This policy does no allow a bias to shift traffic and should not be confused with geolocation or geoproximity routing.
- ✓
Geolocation routing
Why this is correct
Geolocation routing bases its decisions strictly on the geographic location of the requester, as determined by DNS resolvers, mapping them to continents, countries, or U.S. states. It does not consider the location of the resource, and there is no bias option to influence traffic proportions. This is useful when you need to localize content or enforce regional compliance, but you must provide a default record for users in unmapped locations.
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1 more way this is tested on SOA-C02
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Variation 1. A company is using Amazon Route 53 for DNS and wants to route traffic to multiple endpoints based on the geographic location of the user. Which routing policy should the SysOps Administrator use?
hard- ✓ A.Geolocation routing
- B.Weighted routing
- C.Failover routing
- D.Latency routing
Why A: Geolocation routing (Option A) is correct because it allows Route 53 to route traffic based on the geographic location of the DNS query's source IP address. This is ideal for scenarios where you need to direct users to specific endpoints based on their country, continent, or even US state, such as complying with data sovereignty laws or delivering localized content.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SOA-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 SOA-C02 exam.