- A
Enable CloudFront Origin Shield.
Origin Shield acts as a centralized cache, reducing the number of requests that pass through to the origin by serving from a regional cache, which lowers origin costs.
- B
Configure multiple origins for failover.
Why wrong: Multiple origins are used for high availability, not for reducing the number of requests to the primary origin.
- C
Enable CloudFront Web Application Firewall (WAF) integration.
Why wrong: WAF protects against web attacks but does not reduce the number of legitimate requests reaching the origin.
- D
Increase the cache TTL for CloudFront distributions.
Why wrong: Increasing TTL improves cache hit ratio, but Origin Shield is a more comprehensive solution for reducing origin load by aggregating requests from edge locations.
Quick Answer
The answer is to enable CloudFront Origin Shield. Origin Shield acts as an additional centralized caching layer in front of your origin, consolidating requests from multiple edge locations so that only a single request reaches the Application Load Balancer when a cache miss occurs. This directly reduces origin load and minimizes the number of requests that reach the origin server, which is the most effective way to lower CloudFront cost reduction by minimizing origin requests. On the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 exam, this question tests your understanding of advanced caching features beyond basic TTL settings; a common trap is to suggest increasing the default TTL or enabling compression, which do not reduce the number of origin requests. Remember the memory tip: Origin Shield is the "bouncer" that lets only one request through to the origin from all the edge locations.
SOA-C02 Cost and Performance Optimization Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of cost and performance optimization. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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 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?
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 CloudFront Origin Shield.
CloudFront Origin Shield acts as an additional caching layer in front of the origin, reducing the load on the origin by consolidating requests from multiple edge locations. This minimizes the number of requests that reach the Application Load Balancer, directly lowering origin request costs and improving cache hit ratio.
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.
- ✓
Enable CloudFront Origin Shield.
Why this is correct
Origin Shield acts as a centralized cache, reducing the number of requests that pass through to the origin by serving from a regional cache, which lowers origin costs.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Configure multiple origins for failover.
Why it's wrong here
Multiple origins are used for high availability, not for reducing the number of requests to the primary origin.
- ✗
Enable CloudFront Web Application Firewall (WAF) integration.
Why it's wrong here
WAF protects against web attacks but does not reduce the number of legitimate requests reaching the origin.
- ✗
Increase the cache TTL for CloudFront distributions.
Why it's wrong here
Increasing TTL improves cache hit ratio, but Origin Shield is a more comprehensive solution for reducing origin load by aggregating requests from edge locations.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often assume increasing cache TTL is the primary way to reduce origin requests, but they overlook that Origin Shield directly reduces origin load by consolidating requests, which is a more targeted cost optimization feature for CloudFront.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Origin Shield works by designating a single regional origin-facing layer (e.g., in us-east-1) that aggregates requests from all edge locations before forwarding them to the origin. This reduces the number of concurrent connections to the origin, especially for cache misses, and can improve cache fill efficiency by avoiding redundant requests from multiple edges. In practice, Origin Shield is most effective for origins that serve a global audience with a single regional origin, as it reduces origin traffic by up to 50% in some scenarios.
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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
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?
Cost and Performance Optimization — This question tests Cost and Performance Optimization — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Enable CloudFront Origin Shield. — CloudFront Origin Shield acts as an additional caching layer in front of the origin, reducing the load on the origin by consolidating requests from multiple edge locations. This minimizes the number of requests that reach the Application Load Balancer, directly lowering origin request costs and improving cache hit ratio.
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 →
Same concept, more angles
2 more ways this is tested on SOA-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company is using Amazon CloudFront to deliver content globally. Which feature can help reduce costs by minimizing data transfer from the origin?
easy- A.Enable multiple origins for load balancing.
- ✓ B.Configure caching to serve content from edge locations.
- C.Configure custom SSL certificates.
- D.Use Lambda@Edge to process requests.
Why B: Option D is correct because caching at edge locations reduces origin requests, lowering data transfer costs. Option A is wrong because using multiple origins increases complexity. Option B is wrong because Lambda@Edge runs code but doesn't reduce origin transfer. Option C is wrong because custom SSL certificates don't affect transfer costs.
Variation 2. A company is using Amazon CloudFront to deliver content to users worldwide. They notice high data transfer costs. Which THREE actions can reduce CloudFront data transfer costs?
hard- A.Use Lambda@Edge to customize content.
- ✓ B.Use a CloudFront price class that only uses the cheapest edge locations.
- ✓ C.Enable compression for compressible objects.
- D.Add more edge locations to improve cache hit ratio.
- ✓ E.Use CloudFront Origin Shield to reduce requests to the origin.
Why B: Option A is correct because price class selects only the cheapest edge locations. Option B is correct because compressing objects reduces transfer size. Option D is correct because origin shield reduces requests to the origin. Option C is wrong because Lambda@Edge adds cost. Option E is wrong because more edge locations increase coverage but not necessarily reduce cost.
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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