- A
Use AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) to request a public certificate and associate it with the ALB.
Correct. ACM public certificates are automatically renewed, and SSL termination is offloaded to the ALB.
- B
Upload a third-party certificate to IAM and associate it with the ALB.
Why wrong: IAM does not manage certificate renewal; the administrator would have to manually renew and re-upload the certificate.
- C
Store the certificate in Amazon S3 and configure the ALB to read from S3.
Why wrong: The ALB cannot directly use certificates from S3; it requires ACM or IAM for SSL termination.
- D
Use a self-signed certificate on each EC2 instance and configure the ALB for TCP passthrough.
Why wrong: This does not offload SSL termination to the ALB and requires manual certificate management on each instance, which is not scalable.
Quick Answer
The answer is to use AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) to request a public certificate and associate it with the ALB. This is correct because ACM integrates natively with Application Load Balancers to handle SSL termination, offloading the decryption work from your EC2 instances. ACM automatically renews public certificates issued by Amazon’s trusted certificate authority before they expire, so you never need to manually track or replace certificates. On the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how to combine SSL termination with automatic certificate renewal using ACM, a common pattern for secure, low-maintenance web architectures. A frequent trap is thinking you must upload a third-party certificate or manage renewal via a cron job, but ACM handles both the termination and renewal seamlessly when associated with the ALB’s HTTPS listener. Memory tip: “ACM on ALB = Auto Cert Magic” — the service does the renewal work for you.
SOA-C02 Networking and Content Delivery Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of networking and content delivery. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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.
A company runs a web application on EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application needs to serve HTTPS content. The SysOps administrator wants to offload SSL termination to the ALB and automatically renew the certificate before expiration. Which solution should the administrator implement?
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
Use AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) to request a public certificate and associate it with the ALB.
AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) integrates natively with Application Load Balancers to handle SSL/TLS termination. ACM can automatically renew public certificates issued by Amazon's trusted certificate authority, eliminating the need for manual renewal. By associating the ACM certificate with the ALB's HTTPS listener, the administrator offloads SSL termination and ensures automatic certificate renewal before expiration.
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.
- ✓
Use AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) to request a public certificate and associate it with the ALB.
Why this is correct
Correct. ACM public certificates are automatically renewed, and SSL termination is offloaded to the ALB.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Upload a third-party certificate to IAM and associate it with the ALB.
Why it's wrong here
IAM does not manage certificate renewal; the administrator would have to manually renew and re-upload the certificate.
- ✗
Store the certificate in Amazon S3 and configure the ALB to read from S3.
Why it's wrong here
The ALB cannot directly use certificates from S3; it requires ACM or IAM for SSL termination.
- ✗
Use a self-signed certificate on each EC2 instance and configure the ALB for TCP passthrough.
Why it's wrong here
This does not offload SSL termination to the ALB and requires manual certificate management on each instance, which is not scalable.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may confuse ACM's automatic renewal with manual certificate upload methods (IAM or S3) or incorrectly think self-signed certificates can be used with ACM, when in fact ACM only manages certificates from its own public CA or imported certificates that must be manually renewed.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
ACM automatically renews certificates issued by Amazon's public CA approximately 60 days before expiration, using DNS validation or email validation to prove domain ownership. The ALB's HTTPS listener references the ACM certificate ARN, and the ALB handles the TLS handshake, decrypting traffic before forwarding it as HTTP to the backend instances. This reduces CPU load on EC2 instances and centralizes certificate management, but note that ACM certificates cannot be exported for use outside AWS services like EC2 or on-premises servers.
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.
TExam Day Tips
- 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.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SOA-C02 question test?
Networking and Content Delivery — This question tests Networking and Content Delivery — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) to request a public certificate and associate it with the ALB. — AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) integrates natively with Application Load Balancers to handle SSL/TLS termination. ACM can automatically renew public certificates issued by Amazon's trusted certificate authority, eliminating the need for manual renewal. By associating the ACM certificate with the ALB's HTTPS listener, the administrator offloads SSL termination and ensures automatic certificate renewal before expiration.
What should I do if I get this SOA-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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