- A
Latency routing policy
Why wrong: Routes based on latency, not health.
- B
Weighted routing policy
Why wrong: Distributes traffic based on weights, not health.
- C
Geolocation routing policy
Why wrong: Routes based on geographic location.
- D
Failover routing policy
Routes to primary unless unhealthy, then to secondary.
Question 101 of 1,546
SOA-C02 Reliability and Business Continuity Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of reliability and business continuity. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 Route 53 for DNS resolution. The company wants to ensure that if a web server becomes unhealthy, traffic is automatically routed to a healthy server in another Availability Zone. Which routing policy should be used?
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
✓
Failover routing policy
The Failover routing policy (D) is correct because it is specifically designed to route traffic to a primary resource (e.g., a web server) and automatically redirect to a secondary resource in a different Availability Zone when health checks fail. Route 53 uses health checks to monitor the primary endpoint; if the primary becomes unhealthy, it returns the secondary record in DNS responses, ensuring automatic failover.
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.
- ✗
Latency routing policy
Why it's wrong here
Routes based on latency, not health.
- ✗
Weighted routing policy
Why it's wrong here
Distributes traffic based on weights, not health.
- ✗
Geolocation routing policy
Why it's wrong here
Routes based on geographic location.
- ✓
Failover routing policy
Why this is correct
Routes to primary unless unhealthy, then to secondary.
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 Failover routing policy with Weighted routing policy, mistakenly thinking that weights can be adjusted dynamically to simulate failover, but Route 53 does not automatically adjust weights based on health—only Failover routing policy provides automatic, health-check-driven failover between a primary and secondary resource.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, Route 53 Failover routing policy relies on DNS TTL (Time to Live) and health checks. When a primary resource fails a health check, Route 53 immediately returns the secondary resource's IP address in DNS responses, but clients may cache the old DNS record until the TTL expires (commonly 60 seconds). In real-world scenarios, this means failover is not instantaneous; you must set a low TTL (e.g., 5–10 seconds) to minimize downtime, and you can combine failover with alias records for AWS resources like ELBs to leverage their built-in health checks.
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.
Visual reference
Quick reference
Common DNS Record Types
| Record | Purpose | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A | IPv4 address mapping | example.com → 93.184.216.34 |
| AAAA | IPv6 address mapping | example.com → 2606:2800::1 |
| CNAME | Alias to another hostname | www → example.com |
| MX | Mail server for domain | example.com → mail.example.com (priority 10) |
| TXT | Text data (SPF, DKIM, verification) | v=spf1 include:_spf.example.com ~all |
| NS | Authoritative name servers | example.com NS ns1.example.com |
| PTR | Reverse DNS (IP → hostname) | 34.216.184.93.in-addr.arpa → example.com |
| SOA | Zone authority record | Primary NS, admin email, serial, TTL defaults |
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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Reliability and Business Continuity — study guide chapter
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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: Failover routing policy — The Failover routing policy (D) is correct because it is specifically designed to route traffic to a primary resource (e.g., a web server) and automatically redirect to a secondary resource in a different Availability Zone when health checks fail. Route 53 uses health checks to monitor the primary endpoint; if the primary becomes unhealthy, it returns the secondary record in DNS responses, ensuring automatic failover.
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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