Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company has an Amazon CloudFront distribution that delivers static content from an Amazon S3 bucket. The SysOps administrator needs to ensure that the content can only be accessed through CloudFront and not directly from the S3 bucket URL. The solution should use AWS managed services with minimal configuration. Which solution should the administrator implement?
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
Best answer
Configure the S3 bucket policy to deny all access except from the CloudFront distribution's origin access identity (OAI).
This is the recommended AWS solution. Create an OAI, associate it with the CloudFront distribution, and update the S3 bucket policy to allow only the OAI's access. Direct S3 URLs will be denied.
B
Distractor review
Make the S3 bucket private and use pre-signed URLs for CloudFront.
Pre-signed URLs are used to grant temporary access, but CloudFront would need to generate them on the fly, adding complexity. The OAI method is simpler and more appropriate for static content.
C
Distractor review
Use AWS WAF on CloudFront to block direct access to S3 by checking the Referer header.
The Referer header can be easily spoofed, so this is not a secure solution. Additionally, it adds overhead and is not a direct method to restrict S3 access.
D
Distractor review
Create a VPC endpoint for S3 and restrict access to the bucket from the CloudFront IP addresses.
VPC endpoints are for resources inside a VPC, not for CloudFront. CloudFront IP addresses can change, making this impractical and insecure.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: ACLs stop at the first match
ACLs are processed top to bottom. The first matching entry wins, and an implicit deny usually exists at the end.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
ACL questions test precision: source, destination, protocol, port and direction. A generally correct ACL can still fail if it is applied on the wrong interface or in the wrong direction.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Standard ACLs match source addresses.
- Extended ACLs can match source, destination, protocol and ports.
- The first matching ACL entry is used.
- There is usually an implicit deny at the end.
TExam Day Tips
- Check inbound versus outbound direction.
- Read the ACL from top to bottom.
- Look for a broader permit or deny above the intended line.
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?
Standard ACLs match source addresses.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Configure the S3 bucket policy to deny all access except from the CloudFront distribution's origin access identity (OAI). — The standard approach is to use an Origin Access Identity (OAI) with CloudFront. The OAI is a special CloudFront user that can be granted access to the S3 bucket. By configuring the bucket policy to allow only the OAI, direct access via the S3 URL is blocked, ensuring all requests go through CloudFront.
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.
Discussion
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