- A
Set the Auto Scaling group's desired capacity to a high number.
Why wrong: High capacity in one AZ does not protect against AZ failure.
- B
Create a CloudWatch alarm that triggers if the ALB has elevated 5xx errors.
Why wrong: Alarms detect issues but do not prevent AZ failure impact.
- C
Configure the Auto Scaling group to launch instances in at least two Availability Zones.
Distributing instances across AZs ensures availability if one AZ fails.
- D
Use a single EC2 instance type for all instances.
Why wrong: Instance type does not affect AZ resilience.
- E
Configure the ALB to be internet-facing and enable cross-zone load balancing.
Cross-zone load balancing allows the ALB to distribute traffic across instances in multiple AZs.
Question 1,114 of 1,546
SOA-C02 Reliability and Business Continuity Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of reliability and business continuity. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 is designing a highly available architecture for a web application. The application uses an Application Load Balancer (ALB) and an Auto Scaling group of EC2 instances. Which TWO steps should the company take to ensure the architecture is resilient to an Availability Zone failure? (Select TWO.)
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
✓
Configure the Auto Scaling group to launch instances in at least two Availability Zones.
Option C is correct because launching EC2 instances in at least two Availability Zones (AZs) ensures that if one AZ fails, the Auto Scaling group can continue to serve traffic from instances in the remaining AZ(s). This is a fundamental design pattern for high availability within a single AWS Region, as it distributes the application across physically separate data centers.
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.
- ✗
Set the Auto Scaling group's desired capacity to a high number.
Why it's wrong here
High capacity in one AZ does not protect against AZ failure.
- ✗
Create a CloudWatch alarm that triggers if the ALB has elevated 5xx errors.
Why it's wrong here
Alarms detect issues but do not prevent AZ failure impact.
- ✓
Configure the Auto Scaling group to launch instances in at least two Availability Zones.
Why this is correct
Distributing instances across AZs ensures availability if one AZ fails.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use a single EC2 instance type for all instances.
Why it's wrong here
Instance type does not affect AZ resilience.
- ✓
Configure the ALB to be internet-facing and enable cross-zone load balancing.
Why this is correct
Cross-zone load balancing allows the ALB to distribute traffic across instances in multiple AZs.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse scaling capacity (Option A) or monitoring (Option B) with the architectural requirement of distributing resources across multiple Availability Zones, which is the only way to survive an AZ failure.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, an Application Load Balancer is a regional service that automatically distributes incoming traffic across targets in multiple AZs. When cross-zone load balancing is enabled (default for ALB), the load balancer distributes traffic evenly across all registered instances in all enabled AZs, regardless of which AZ the client request arrives in. This means that even if one AZ becomes impaired, the ALB can route traffic to healthy instances in other AZs, provided the Auto Scaling group has instances in those AZs.
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.
- →
Reliability and Business Continuity — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
- →
Reliability and Business Continuity practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
- →
All SOA-C02 questions
1,546 questions across all exam domains
- →
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
- →
SOA-C02 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
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.
Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation.
Reliability and Business Continuity practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Reliability and Business Continuity.
Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation.
Security and Compliance practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Security and Compliance.
Networking and Content Delivery practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Networking and Content Delivery.
Cost and Performance Optimization practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Cost and Performance Optimization.
SOA-C02 fundamentals practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to SOA-C02 fundamentals.
SOA-C02 scenario practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to SOA-C02 scenario.
SOA-C02 troubleshooting practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to SOA-C02 troubleshooting.
Practice this exam
Start a free SOA-C02 practice session
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SOA-C02 question test?
Reliability and Business Continuity — This question tests Reliability and Business Continuity — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Configure the Auto Scaling group to launch instances in at least two Availability Zones. — Option C is correct because launching EC2 instances in at least two Availability Zones (AZs) ensures that if one AZ fails, the Auto Scaling group can continue to serve traffic from instances in the remaining AZ(s). This is a fundamental design pattern for high availability within a single AWS Region, as it distributes the application across physically separate data centers.
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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Keep practising
More SOA-C02 practice questions
- A company uses an Amazon DynamoDB table with on-demand capacity mode. The table handles a workload with a steady baselin…
- A company uses Amazon CloudWatch Logs to store application logs. The SysOps administrator needs to count the occurrences…
- A SysOps administrator needs to monitor the CPU utilization of an Amazon EC2 instance and send an alert when it exceeds…
- A SysOps administrator needs to monitor the CPU utilization of an Amazon EC2 instance fleet and send an alert when the a…
- A company's security policy requires that all Amazon S3 buckets must have server-side encryption enabled. The SysOps adm…
- A SysOps administrator uses AWS CloudFormation to deploy a stack that includes an Amazon EC2 instance. The administrator…
Last reviewed: Jul 4, 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.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.