- A
Use AWS Global Accelerator and provide the static IP addresses to the third party
Global Accelerator provides two static IP addresses that serve as a fixed entry point. You can add the ALB as an endpoint, and traffic will be directed to the ALB's current healthy instances, while the static IPs remain unchanged.
- B
Use Amazon Route 53 with a simple routing policy pointing to the ALB DNS name
Why wrong: Route 53 simple routing resolves to the ALB's DNS name, which resolves to the ALB's IP addresses, but those IPs can change over time. The third party requires static IPs, not a DNS name.
- C
Use an Amazon CloudFront distribution with the ALB as the origin and provide the CloudFront IP addresses
Why wrong: CloudFront uses a shared IP range that is not dedicated to a specific distribution. These IPs also change when CloudFront updates its edge locations, so they are not a stable, dedicated set of IPs for allowlisting.
- D
Use an AWS Network Load Balancer (NLB) with static IP addresses in front of the ALB
Why wrong: An NLB cannot directly target an Application Load Balancer. You would need to configure a target group of instances or IPs, which adds complexity and does not leverage the ALB's advanced features. Global Accelerator is the simpler and recommended solution.
Quick Answer
The correct solution is to use AWS Global Accelerator and provide its static IP addresses to the third party. This works because Global Accelerator assigns two static anycast IP addresses that act as a fixed entry point, and you configure the Application Load Balancer as an endpoint behind it. When the Auto Scaling group behind the ALB scales instances up or down, the ALB’s DNS or IP may change, but Global Accelerator’s static IPs remain constant, so the third-party allowlist never needs manual updates. On the SOA-C02 exam, this question tests your understanding of how to decouple dynamic infrastructure from external dependencies—a common trap is trying to use an Elastic IP for the ALB (which is not supported) or relying on ALB DNS with a scripted update. Remember the key distinction: ALB DNS changes, Global Accelerator IPs do not. A useful memory tip is “Static IPs for the third-party, Global Accelerator is the key.”
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 has deployed a web application on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application's IP addresses are used by a third-party service to allowlist traffic. The EC2 instances are part of an Auto Scaling group that may scale up and down. The SysOps administrator needs to ensure that the third-party service always has the current IP addresses of the ALB without requiring manual updates. Which solution should the administrator implement?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"always"Why it matters: Absolute qualifier. An answer using 'always' is only correct if there are genuinely no exceptions — absolute statements are often wrong in networking.
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 Global Accelerator and provide the static IP addresses to the third party
AWS Global Accelerator provides two static anycast IP addresses that serve as a fixed entry point for traffic. By pointing the ALB as an endpoint behind Global Accelerator, the third-party service can allowlist these static IPs, and any changes to the underlying EC2 instances (due to Auto Scaling) are handled transparently without requiring updates to the allowlist.
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 Global Accelerator and provide the static IP addresses to the third party
Why this is correct
Global Accelerator provides two static IP addresses that serve as a fixed entry point. You can add the ALB as an endpoint, and traffic will be directed to the ALB's current healthy instances, while the static IPs remain unchanged.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "always" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use Amazon Route 53 with a simple routing policy pointing to the ALB DNS name
- ✗
Use an Amazon CloudFront distribution with the ALB as the origin and provide the CloudFront IP addresses
Why it's wrong here
CloudFront uses a shared IP range that is not dedicated to a specific distribution. These IPs also change when CloudFront updates its edge locations, so they are not a stable, dedicated set of IPs for allowlisting.
- ✗
Use an AWS Network Load Balancer (NLB) with static IP addresses in front of the ALB
Why it's wrong here
An NLB cannot directly target an Application Load Balancer. You would need to configure a target group of instances or IPs, which adds complexity and does not leverage the ALB's advanced features. Global Accelerator is the simpler and recommended solution.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often think an NLB with static IPs (Option D) is the correct solution, but they overlook that Global Accelerator is the intended AWS service for providing static IPs in front of an ALB while maintaining layer 7 functionality and simplifying allowlist management.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
AWS Global Accelerator uses the AWS global network and Anycast routing to provide two static IP addresses that are resilient to changes in the underlying infrastructure. Under the hood, it uses TCP/UDP port mappings to route traffic to the ALB endpoint, and health checks ensure traffic is only sent to healthy ALB targets. This is ideal for scenarios where clients require a fixed IP allowlist, such as with third-party APIs or legacy firewall rules.
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
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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Networking and Content Delivery — study guide chapter
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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 Global Accelerator and provide the static IP addresses to the third party — AWS Global Accelerator provides two static anycast IP addresses that serve as a fixed entry point for traffic. By pointing the ALB as an endpoint behind Global Accelerator, the third-party service can allowlist these static IPs, and any changes to the underlying EC2 instances (due to Auto Scaling) are handled transparently without requiring updates to the allowlist.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "always". Absolute qualifier. An answer using 'always' is only correct if there are genuinely no exceptions — absolute statements are often wrong in networking.
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
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.
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