CloudFront: Deliver Static S3 Website with Low Latency and HTTPS
A company hosts a static website on Amazon S3. Users access the website from around the world. The SysOps administrator needs to deliver content with low latency and support HTTPS with a custom domain. Which AWS service should be used?
Quick Answer
The answer is Amazon CloudFront. CloudFront is the correct choice because it acts as a content delivery network (CDN) that caches your static S3 website at edge locations around the world, dramatically reducing latency for global users, while also natively supporting HTTPS with a custom domain through SSL/TLS certificates from AWS Certificate Manager. On the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how to combine S3 static hosting with a CDN for performance and security, often appearing as a straightforward question where the trap is choosing S3 alone or an Application Load Balancer—neither of which provides global edge caching or integrated HTTPS termination for a custom domain. Remember, if the requirement is low latency for a global audience plus HTTPS on a custom domain, think CloudFront first: it’s the only service that delivers both caching at the edge and seamless SSL termination. A simple memory tip is “Edge + HTTPS = CloudFront.”
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse AWS Global Accelerator with CloudFront because both improve performance, but Global Accelerator does not cache content or terminate HTTPS for static websites, making it unsuitable for this use case.
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
✓
Amazon CloudFront
Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) that caches static content at edge locations worldwide, reducing latency for global users. It natively supports HTTPS with custom domains via SSL/TLS certificates from AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) and integrates with S3 as an origin. This combination of low-latency delivery and HTTPS termination makes CloudFront the correct choice for this scenario.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS Global Accelerator
Why it's wrong here
Global Accelerator proxies TCP/UDP traffic to regional endpoints via anycast IPs; it does not cache S3 objects at edge locations or terminate HTTPS with an ACM certificate for a custom domain. It suits non-HTTP workloads needing static IP addresses and fast regional failover.
- ✓
Amazon CloudFront
Why this is correct
CloudFront caches static content at global edge locations, cutting latency for worldwide users, and provides HTTPS with a custom domain via ACM certificates. This satisfies both the low-latency and secure custom-domain constraints that S3 static website hosting alone cannot meet.
- ✗
Amazon Route 53 latency-based routing
Why it's wrong here
Latency-based routing only returns the record for the region with lowest measured latency; it performs no edge caching and cannot terminate TLS for a custom domain on S3. It fits directing users across multiple regional endpoints, not accelerating static content delivery.
- ✗
S3 Transfer Acceleration
Why it's wrong here
S3 Transfer Acceleration speeds uploads into a bucket using edge-optimised AWS endpoints; it does not serve content to viewers or provide HTTPS on a custom domain. It is the right choice for geographically distant clients uploading large objects to S3.
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 |
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This SOA-C02 question is part of Courseiva's 1,169-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more way 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 wants to provide low-latency access to static content (images, CSS) for global users. The content is stored in an S3 bucket. Which service should be used to cache content at edge locations?
easy- A.Amazon ElastiCache
- ✓ B.Amazon CloudFront
- C.S3 Transfer Acceleration
- D.AWS Global Accelerator
Why B: Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) that caches static content (e.g., images, CSS) at edge locations worldwide, providing low-latency access to global users. It integrates directly with S3 as an origin, allowing you to serve content from edge caches while reducing load on the S3 bucket. This makes CloudFront the correct choice for caching static content at edge locations.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.