Question 1hardmultiple choice
Full question →hardmultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company operates a web application behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The SysOps administrator needs to block incoming requests from specific geographic locations (countries X and Y) and also enforce a rate limit of 100 requests per IP address per 5-minute window to mitigate DDoS attacks. The solution must be centrally configured and apply to all requests handled by the ALB. Which AWS service should be used to implement these requirements?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Best answer
AWS WAF
AWS WAF offers both geo-match conditions to block requests from specific countries and rate-based rules to limit request rates from an IP address. It integrates directly with ALB and provides a single, centrally managed solution.
B
Distractor review
Amazon CloudFront geo restriction
CloudFront geo restriction (whitelist/blacklist) can block requests from specific countries, but it only works when CloudFront is in front of the ALB. Additionally, it does not provide rate limiting. It is not directly applicable to an ALB alone.
C
Distractor review
AWS Shield Advanced
AWS Shield Advanced provides network and transport layer DDoS protection and cost protection. It does not offer application-layer filtering such as geo-blocking or rate limiting based on application-level attributes.
D
Distractor review
Security Groups
Security Groups act as a virtual firewall for EC2 instances, controlling traffic at the instance level based on IP addresses and protocols. They cannot inspect application layer details like geographic location or rate of requests.
Common exam trap
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.
Technical deep dive
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.
Related practice questions
Related SOA-C02 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A company uses Amazon CloudFront to deliver content to a global audience. The origin is an Application Load Balancer in us-east-1. The SysOps administrator wants to reduce costs by minimizing the number of requests that reach the origin server. Which action should the administrator take?
Question 2
A company runs a batch processing application on Amazon EC2 that runs for 2 hours every night. The workload can tolerate interruptions. Which EC2 purchasing option provides the lowest cost for this use case?
Question 3
A SysOps administrator needs to monitor the CPU utilization of an Amazon RDS DB instance and receive an alarm when CPU utilization exceeds 80% for 5 consecutive minutes. Which AWS service should be used to create this alarm?
Question 4
A company runs a critical web application on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application uses session stickiness (sticky sessions) to maintain user sessions. The SysOps administrator notices that when instances are replaced during a scale-in or failure event, users lose their session data. The administrator needs to preserve session data across instance failures without losing stickiness benefits. What should the administrator do?
Question 5
A company runs a production web application on a single Amazon EC2 instance. The application experiences a predictable and steady workload 24/7. The SysOps administrator wants to minimize compute costs for this instance while ensuring it remains available during the expected workload. Which EC2 purchasing option should the administrator use?
Question 6
A company has a VPC with public and private subnets. The private subnets host application servers that need to make outbound HTTPS connections to the internet. The SysOps administrator must implement a solution that provides outbound internet connectivity while preventing inbound connections from the internet. Additionally, the solution must allow the company to control which domains the application servers can access. Which solution should the administrator implement?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SOA-C02 question test?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: AWS WAF — AWS WAF is a web application firewall that can be associated with an ALB. It allows you to create rules that filter requests based on conditions such as geographic origin (geo match) and rate of requests (rate-based rules). Geo match rules allow you to block or allow traffic from specific countries. Rate-based rules count requests from a source IP and block them if the rate exceeds a threshold over a specified period. CloudFront geo restriction is limited to CloudFront distributions. AWS Shield Advanced provides enhanced DDoS protection but does not offer granular geo-blocking or application-layer rate limiting. Security Groups cannot inspect application layer data.
What should I do if I get this SOA-C02 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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