- A
Create failover routing records for the domain: a Primary record pointing to us-east-1 with a Route 53 health check, and a Secondary record pointing to eu-west-1 with no health check
When the health check on the Primary record fails for the configured number of consecutive intervals, Route 53 removes the Primary from DNS responses and serves the Secondary. DNS TTL on the records should be set low (60 seconds or less) to minimize client-side caching delay. The failover is automatic, with no manual intervention or Lambda functions required.
- B
Use weighted routing with 100 weight for us-east-1 and 0 weight for eu-west-1; update the weights via Lambda when a CloudWatch alarm fires
Why wrong: Weighted routing with 0 weight for the secondary effectively removes it from rotation, but traffic continues to the primary even if it is unhealthy. Failover requires a manual or automated weight update via a Lambda triggered by an alarm, adding latency and operational complexity. Failover routing policy handles this automatically with no Lambda required.
- C
Enable Route 53 latency routing with records for both regions; Route 53 will automatically switch to eu-west-1 when us-east-1 becomes unavailable
Why wrong: Latency routing selects the region that offers the lowest latency for the client, not the region that is healthy. If us-east-1 is unreachable, latency routing does not automatically exclude it — Route 53 may still return the us-east-1 record even if the endpoint is down, because latency routing has no concept of health-based exclusion without a health check.
- D
Configure Route 53 geolocation routing to send all US traffic to us-east-1 and all European traffic to eu-west-1
Why wrong: Geolocation routing directs traffic based on the geographic origin of the client request, not based on endpoint health. A US user will always be sent to us-east-1 even if it is down, because geolocation routing does not monitor health. This does not implement an active-passive failover.
SOA-C02 Practice Question: Route 53 failover routing policy for…
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of networking and content delivery. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. A key principle to apply: route 53 failover routing. 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 web application is deployed in us-east-1 (primary) and eu-west-1 (standby). Under normal conditions, all traffic should go to us-east-1. If the us-east-1 health check fails, traffic must automatically redirect to eu-west-1 within 30 to 60 seconds. What Route 53 configuration implements this?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"primary"Why it matters: Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
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
Create failover routing records for the domain: a Primary record pointing to us-east-1 with a Route 53 health check, and a Secondary record pointing to eu-west-1 with no health check
Option A is correct because Route 53 failover routing records, combined with a health check on the primary record, automatically redirect traffic to the secondary (standby) record when the primary health check fails. The health check interval and failure threshold can be configured to detect failure within 30–60 seconds, meeting the requirement without manual intervention.
Key principle: Route 53 failover routing
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create failover routing records for the domain: a Primary record pointing to us-east-1 with a Route 53 health check, and a Secondary record pointing to eu-west-1 with no health check
Why this is correct
When the health check on the Primary record fails for the configured number of consecutive intervals, Route 53 removes the Primary from DNS responses and serves the Secondary. DNS TTL on the records should be set low (60 seconds or less) to minimize client-side caching delay. The failover is automatic, with no manual intervention or Lambda functions required.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "primary" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Route 53 failover routing
- ✗
Use weighted routing with 100 weight for us-east-1 and 0 weight for eu-west-1; update the weights via Lambda when a CloudWatch alarm fires
Why it's wrong here
Weighted routing with 0 weight for the secondary effectively removes it from rotation, but traffic continues to the primary even if it is unhealthy. Failover requires a manual or automated weight update via a Lambda triggered by an alarm, adding latency and operational complexity. Failover routing policy handles this automatically with no Lambda required.
- ✗
Enable Route 53 latency routing with records for both regions; Route 53 will automatically switch to eu-west-1 when us-east-1 becomes unavailable
Why it's wrong here
Latency routing selects the region that offers the lowest latency for the client, not the region that is healthy. If us-east-1 is unreachable, latency routing does not automatically exclude it — Route 53 may still return the us-east-1 record even if the endpoint is down, because latency routing has no concept of health-based exclusion without a health check.
- ✗
Configure Route 53 geolocation routing to send all US traffic to us-east-1 and all European traffic to eu-west-1
Why it's wrong here
Geolocation routing directs traffic based on the geographic origin of the client request, not based on endpoint health. A US user will always be sent to us-east-1 even if it is down, because geolocation routing does not monitor health. This does not implement an active-passive failover.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse failover routing with latency or geolocation routing, assuming that Route 53 automatically considers health in those routing policies, but only failover routing explicitly supports active-passive failover with health checks.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Route 53 failover routing uses a primary and secondary record set; the health check associated with the primary record is evaluated every 10 seconds by default (configurable to 30 seconds), and after three consecutive failures (default), the DNS response switches to the secondary record. This mechanism leverages DNS TTL (typically 60 seconds) to propagate the change, ensuring failover completes within the required 30–60 second window. In real-world scenarios, setting a low TTL (e.g., 10 seconds) on the primary record can accelerate failover but increases DNS query load.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Route 53 failover routing
- health check
- active-passive
- primary and secondary record
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
Route 53 failover routing
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Route 53 failover routing Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Review route 53 failover routing, then practise related SOA-C02 questions on the same topic to reinforce the concept.
- →
Networking and Content Delivery — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
- →
Networking and Content Delivery practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
- →
All SOA-C02 questions
1,546 questions across all exam domains
- →
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
- →
SOA-C02 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
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.
Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation.
Reliability and Business Continuity practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Reliability and Business Continuity.
Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation.
Security and Compliance practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Security and Compliance.
Networking and Content Delivery practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Networking and Content Delivery.
Cost and Performance Optimization practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to Cost and Performance Optimization.
SOA-C02 fundamentals practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to SOA-C02 fundamentals.
SOA-C02 scenario practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to SOA-C02 scenario.
SOA-C02 troubleshooting practice questions
Practise SOA-C02 questions linked to SOA-C02 troubleshooting.
Practice this exam
Start a free SOA-C02 practice session
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SOA-C02 question test?
Networking and Content Delivery — This question tests Networking and Content Delivery — Route 53 failover routing.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create failover routing records for the domain: a Primary record pointing to us-east-1 with a Route 53 health check, and a Secondary record pointing to eu-west-1 with no health check — Option A is correct because Route 53 failover routing records, combined with a health check on the primary record, automatically redirect traffic to the secondary (standby) record when the primary health check fails. The health check interval and failure threshold can be configured to detect failure within 30–60 seconds, meeting the requirement without manual intervention.
What should I do if I get this SOA-C02 question wrong?
Review route 53 failover routing, then practise related SOA-C02 questions on the same topic to reinforce the concept.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "primary". Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Route 53 failover routing
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 →
Keep practising
More SOA-C02 practice questions
- A company uses an Amazon DynamoDB table with on-demand capacity mode. The table handles a workload with a steady baselin…
- A company uses Amazon CloudWatch Logs to store application logs. The SysOps administrator needs to count the occurrences…
- A SysOps administrator needs to monitor the CPU utilization of an Amazon EC2 instance and send an alert when it exceeds…
- A SysOps administrator needs to monitor the CPU utilization of an Amazon EC2 instance fleet and send an alert when the a…
- A company's security policy requires that all Amazon S3 buckets must have server-side encryption enabled. The SysOps adm…
- A SysOps administrator uses AWS CloudFormation to deploy a stack that includes an Amazon EC2 instance. The administrator…
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.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.