Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company runs a stateful web application on a single Amazon EC2 instance with an Elastic IP address. The SysOps administrator needs to increase availability so that if the instance fails, a new instance can be launched quickly with the same configuration and the same IP address. The administrator also needs to ensure data is not lost. Which solution meets these requirements with the least operational overhead?
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
Distractor review
Use an Application Load Balancer with an Auto Scaling group and a launch configuration that includes the Elastic IP
Elastic IPs cannot be associated with an auto-scaled instance via a launch configuration. Additionally, an ALB expects dynamic IPs; using an EIP for the instances behind the ALB is not standard and adds complexity.
B
Best answer
Create an AMI from the instance, store data on an Amazon EFS file system, and use an Auto Scaling group with a lifecycle hook to associate the Elastic IP
The AMI provides a pre-configured launch template. EFS provides durable, shared storage for application data. The Auto Scaling group automatically launches a new instance if the current one fails, and the lifecycle hook script associates the Elastic IP to the new instance, ensuring continuity with the same IP.
C
Distractor review
Create a CloudFormation template that launches a new instance and associates the Elastic IP
While CloudFormation can launch a new instance and associate the EIP, it does not provide automatic failure detection and recovery. Manual or scheduled intervention would be required to detect failure and launch the replacement.
D
Distractor review
Place the instance in an Auto Scaling group with a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 1, and set the health check to replace unhealthy instances
This would replace the instance if it fails, but it does not address data persistence. The new instance would be launched from the original AMI, losing any data that was not on persistent storage. It also does not automatically reassociate the Elastic IP.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
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?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create an AMI from the instance, store data on an Amazon EFS file system, and use an Auto Scaling group with a lifecycle hook to associate the Elastic IP — Using an AMI captures the instance configuration. Amazon EFS provides a shared, persistent file system that survives instance termination. An Auto Scaling group with a lifecycle hook can associate the Elastic IP to the new instance during launch. This combination ensures automated recovery with the same IP and no data loss.
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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