- A
Use Amazon CloudFront with origin stickiness enabled.
Why wrong: CloudFront does not provide session stickiness; it caches content at edge locations.
- B
Use a Network Load Balancer (NLB) with target group stickiness.
Why wrong: NLB does not natively support cookie-based stickiness; it relies on source IP which can be unreliable.
- C
Enable sticky sessions on the Application Load Balancer using a load balancer-generated cookie.
ALB sticky sessions with a generated cookie are designed for this purpose and have minimal overhead.
- D
Store session state in Amazon DynamoDB and have each instance read from DynamoDB.
Why wrong: While this works, it adds latency and cost; ALB sticky sessions are more efficient.
Question 750 of 1,546
SOA-C02 Networking and Content Delivery Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of networking and content delivery. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 deploying a web application on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application needs to maintain user session state. Which configuration ensures session stickiness with minimal performance impact?
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
✓
Enable sticky sessions on the Application Load Balancer using a load balancer-generated cookie.
Option C is correct because enabling sticky sessions on an Application Load Balancer (ALB) using a load balancer-generated cookie (AWSALB) binds a user's session to a specific target instance with minimal overhead. The ALB inserts the cookie in the response, and subsequent requests from the same client are routed to the same instance without requiring application-level session replication or external storage, thus preserving performance.
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 Amazon CloudFront with origin stickiness enabled.
Why it's wrong here
CloudFront does not provide session stickiness; it caches content at edge locations.
- ✗
Use a Network Load Balancer (NLB) with target group stickiness.
Why it's wrong here
NLB does not natively support cookie-based stickiness; it relies on source IP which can be unreliable.
- ✓
Enable sticky sessions on the Application Load Balancer using a load balancer-generated cookie.
Why this is correct
ALB sticky sessions with a generated cookie are designed for this purpose and have minimal overhead.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Store session state in Amazon DynamoDB and have each instance read from DynamoDB.
Why it's wrong here
While this works, it adds latency and cost; ALB sticky sessions are more efficient.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse session stickiness with session persistence via external storage (DynamoDB) or assume a Network Load Balancer can provide cookie-based stickiness, but the exam tests the specific AWS service capabilities: only ALB supports cookie-based sticky sessions at Layer 7 with minimal performance impact.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The ALB's sticky session feature uses the AWSALB cookie, which is a load balancer-generated cookie that encodes the target instance ID and a timestamp, with a default duration of 1 day (configurable). Under the hood, the ALB intercepts the client's first request, selects a target, and sets the cookie in the HTTP response; subsequent requests with that cookie are routed to the same target, ensuring session affinity without requiring the application to manage session state. In a real-world scenario, this is ideal for stateful applications like shopping carts, but note that if the target instance fails, the session is lost unless the application also persists session data externally.
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.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
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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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: Enable sticky sessions on the Application Load Balancer using a load balancer-generated cookie. — Option C is correct because enabling sticky sessions on an Application Load Balancer (ALB) using a load balancer-generated cookie (AWSALB) binds a user's session to a specific target instance with minimal overhead. The ALB inserts the cookie in the response, and subsequent requests from the same client are routed to the same instance without requiring application-level session replication or external storage, thus preserving performance.
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: Jul 4, 2026
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