Core Services Overview — CLF-C02 practice questions

Practice questions for this topic, with explained answers.

Domain: Cloud Technology and Services ·100 questions · 30 easy · 40 intermediate · 30 hard · page 3 of 7

Question 31 clf-core-services-overview-031

Easy · Choose one

Which AWS service automatically distributes incoming application traffic across multiple targets, such as Amazon EC2 instances located in different Availability Zones?

  1. a Elastic Load Balancing
  2. b Amazon CloudFront
  3. c AWS Direct Connect
  4. d Amazon Route 53
Show answer & explanation

Answer: A

Why A is correct

Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) automatically distributes incoming traffic across multiple registered targets in one or more Availability Zones. It performs health checks and stops sending requests to unhealthy targets, which is a core building block for both scalability and high availability.

Why the others are wrong

  • B — CloudFront is a content delivery network that caches and delivers content from edge locations. It fronts an origin rather than load balancing a fleet of application servers.
  • C — Direct Connect provides a dedicated private network link between a data center and AWS. It carries traffic; it does not balance it.
  • D — Route 53 is a DNS service. It can distribute traffic using routing policies, but it resolves names to addresses rather than balancing connections at the network or application layer with health-aware target groups.

Last verified: 2026-09-02

Question 32 clf-core-services-overview-032

Easy · Choose one

A small business owner with limited AWS experience wants to launch a simple WordPress site quickly, with compute, storage, and networking bundled together at a predictable fixed monthly price. Which service is designed for this?

  1. a AWS Fargate
  2. b Amazon EC2 with a custom Amazon Machine Image
  3. c Amazon Lightsail
  4. d AWS Batch
Show answer & explanation

Answer: C

Why C is correct

Amazon Lightsail offers pre-configured application blueprints, including WordPress, packaged into simple plans that bundle a virtual server, SSD storage, data transfer allowance, and a static IP for a fixed, predictable monthly price. It is designed specifically for users who want a simplified experience rather than assembling individual AWS building blocks.

Why the others are wrong

  • A — AWS Fargate runs containers. The owner would first need to containerize WordPress and define ECS or EKS resources, which is far more complex than required.
  • B — EC2 gives full control but requires the user to choose an instance type, configure security groups, attach storage, and manage the software stack. Pricing also varies with usage rather than being a flat bundle.
  • D — AWS Batch runs batch computing jobs. It is not a way to host a continuously available website.

Last verified: 2026-09-02

Question 33 clf-core-services-overview-033

Intermediate · Choose one

A company is migrating a large in-memory analytics database that requires a very high ratio of RAM to vCPU. Which Amazon EC2 instance family is the best starting point?

  1. a Storage optimized
  2. b Accelerated computing
  3. c Memory optimized
  4. d Compute optimized
Show answer & explanation

Answer: C

Why C is correct

Memory optimized instances (for example the R and X families) are designed to deliver fast performance for workloads that process large data sets in memory, such as high-performance relational and in-memory databases, real-time big data analytics, and in-memory caches.

Why the others are wrong

  • A — Storage optimized instances (I, D, H families) provide high sequential read and write access to very large local data sets and low-latency local NVMe storage, not large amounts of RAM.
  • B — Accelerated computing instances (P, G, Inf, Trn families) use hardware accelerators such as GPUs for machine learning, graphics, and specialized parallel workloads.
  • D — Compute optimized instances (C family) offer a high ratio of vCPU to memory and suit batch processing, media transcoding, high-performance web servers, and scientific modeling.

Last verified: 2026-09-02

Question 34 clf-core-services-overview-034

Intermediate · Choose one

A visual effects studio runs nightly rendering jobs that can be stopped and restarted without harm, and it wants the lowest possible Amazon EC2 compute cost. Which purchasing option best fits?

  1. a Dedicated Hosts
  2. b Standard Reserved Instances with a three-year term
  3. c On-Demand Instances
  4. d Spot Instances
Show answer & explanation

Answer: D

Why D is correct

Spot Instances let you use spare EC2 capacity at discounts of up to 90 percent compared with On-Demand prices. AWS can reclaim the capacity with a two-minute interruption notice, so Spot is intended precisely for fault-tolerant, flexible, interruption-tolerant workloads such as batch rendering, CI builds, and data analysis.

Why the others are wrong

  • A — Dedicated Hosts are the most expensive option and exist to satisfy licensing or compliance needs for physical server isolation, not to minimize cost.
  • B — A three-year Reserved Instance offers a deep discount, but it commits the company for three years and is intended for steady-state, always-on workloads rather than intermittent nightly jobs.
  • C — On-Demand carries no commitment but is the highest per-hour price of the flexible options, so it does not meet the lowest-cost goal.

Last verified: 2026-09-02

Question 35 clf-core-services-overview-035

Intermediate · Choose one

A company has a steady baseline of compute usage but expects to change instance families and move workloads between Regions over the next year. It wants a discount in exchange for a one-year usage commitment while keeping that flexibility. Which purchasing option should it choose?

  1. a Standard Reserved Instances
  2. b On-Demand Capacity Reservations
  3. c Spot Instances
  4. d Compute Savings Plans
Show answer & explanation

Answer: D

Why D is correct

Compute Savings Plans commit the customer to a consistent amount of compute usage measured in dollars per hour for a one-year or three-year term, in exchange for savings of up to 66 percent for Compute Savings Plans and up to 72 percent for EC2 Instance Savings Plans. Compute Savings Plans automatically apply regardless of instance family, size, Availability Zone, Region, operating system, or tenancy, and also cover Fargate and Lambda usage.

Why the others are wrong

  • A — Standard Reserved Instances give the deepest RI discount but lock the customer to a specific instance family and Region, which conflicts with the stated need for flexibility.
  • B — On-Demand Capacity Reservations reserve capacity in a specific Availability Zone but provide no billing discount on their own.
  • C — Spot Instances offer no commitment and no guaranteed availability. They can be reclaimed at any time and are unsuitable for a steady baseline.

Last verified: 2026-09-02

Question 36 clf-core-services-overview-036

Intermediate · Choose one

A development team already runs Kubernetes on-premises and wants to move to AWS while continuing to use standard Kubernetes tooling and manifests, without operating the Kubernetes control plane themselves. Which service should they use?

  1. a Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS)
  2. b AWS Elastic Beanstalk
  3. c Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling
  4. d Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS)
Show answer & explanation

Answer: D

Why D is correct

Amazon EKS is a managed service that runs upstream, certified conformant Kubernetes. AWS operates the control plane across multiple Availability Zones, while the team keeps using standard Kubernetes APIs, manifests, and ecosystem tooling such as kubectl and Helm.

Why the others are wrong

  • A — Amazon ECS is AWS's own container orchestrator. It is simpler for teams starting fresh, but it does not use Kubernetes APIs, so existing manifests and tooling would not carry over.
  • B — Elastic Beanstalk deploys applications onto managed EC2 environments. It is not a Kubernetes platform.
  • C — EC2 Auto Scaling manages the number of EC2 instances. It provides no container orchestration.

Last verified: 2026-09-02

Question 37 clf-core-services-overview-037

Intermediate · Choose one

A team wants to run containerized microservices on AWS without provisioning, patching, or right-sizing any Amazon EC2 instances. Which service provides this?

  1. a AWS Elastic Beanstalk with a single-instance environment
  2. b Amazon Elastic Container Registry (Amazon ECR)
  3. c AWS Fargate
  4. d Amazon EC2 with the ECS-optimized Amazon Machine Image
Show answer & explanation

Answer: C

Why C is correct

AWS Fargate is a serverless compute engine for containers that works with both Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS. You specify the CPU and memory each task or pod needs, and AWS provisions and manages the underlying compute, so there are no EC2 instances to launch, patch, or scale.

Why the others are wrong

  • A — Elastic Beanstalk provisions EC2 instances into the customer's account, so the customer still owns the servers.
  • B — Amazon ECR stores container images. It does not run them.
  • D — Using the ECS-optimized AMI means the customer is explicitly running and managing EC2 container instances, which is the opposite of the requirement.

Last verified: 2026-09-02

Question 38 clf-core-services-overview-038

Intermediate · Choose one

A research organization submits thousands of independent computational jobs that each run for several hours. It wants AWS to queue the jobs, dynamically provision the right amount and type of compute, and shut the compute down when the queue is empty. Which service is purpose-built for this?

  1. a AWS Step Functions
  2. b Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling
  3. c AWS Batch
  4. d AWS Lambda
Show answer & explanation

Answer: C

Why C is correct

AWS Batch is a fully managed batch computing service. It plans, schedules, and runs batch jobs, and it dynamically provisions the optimal quantity and type of compute resources (including EC2 and Fargate, with Spot support) based on the volume and requirements of the submitted jobs, then scales back down when work is finished.

Why the others are wrong

  • A — Step Functions orchestrates the sequence and state of a workflow. It coordinates steps but does not itself provision batch compute capacity.
  • B — EC2 Auto Scaling scales an instance group against metrics. It has no concept of a job queue, job definitions, or job dependencies.
  • D — Lambda functions are capped at a 15-minute execution time, so jobs running for several hours cannot use it.

Last verified: 2026-09-02

Question 39 clf-core-services-overview-039

Intermediate · Select 2 answers

Which TWO outcomes does Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling directly help a company achieve? (Choose TWO.)

  1. a Guaranteed reservation of capacity in a specific Availability Zone at a discounted rate
  2. b Automatic encryption of all data stored on attached Amazon EBS volumes
  3. c Improved fault tolerance, because unhealthy instances are automatically replaced
  4. d Lower cost, because capacity is removed when demand falls
  5. e Automatic patching of the operating system on every running instance
Show answer & explanation

Answer: C and D

Why C and D are correct

Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling performs health checks on the instances in a group and replaces any that become unhealthy, which improves fault tolerance and availability. It also scales in when demand drops, so the company stops paying for capacity it no longer needs, which supports cost optimization.

Why the others are wrong

  • A — Capacity reservations and discounts come from On-Demand Capacity Reservations, Reserved Instances, or Savings Plans. Auto Scaling is a capacity management mechanism, not a pricing model.
  • B — EBS encryption is configured on the volume or as an account-level default setting. Auto Scaling does not enable it.
  • E — Patching the guest operating system remains the customer's responsibility under the shared responsibility model. AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager is the tool for that, not Auto Scaling.

Last verified: 2026-09-02

Question 40 clf-core-services-overview-040

Hard · Choose one

A company operates a high-volume financial trading platform that handles millions of TCP requests per second, requires ultra-low latency, and must present a static IP address per Availability Zone so that client firewalls can allow-list it. Which load balancer should be used?

  1. a Network Load Balancer
  2. b Amazon CloudFront distribution
  3. c Gateway Load Balancer
  4. d Application Load Balancer
Show answer & explanation

Answer: A

Why A is correct

The Network Load Balancer operates at Layer 4 and is designed to handle millions of requests per second at ultra-low latency. It supports TCP, UDP, and TLS, and it provisions a static IP address per enabled Availability Zone, with the option to assign Elastic IP addresses, which is exactly what client firewall allow-listing requires.

Why the others are wrong

  • B — CloudFront is a content delivery network for HTTP and HTTPS traffic and does not serve as a Layer 4 load balancer for a trading platform.
  • C — The Gateway Load Balancer is used to deploy and scale third-party virtual network appliances such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems. It is not a front door for application clients.
  • D — The Application Load Balancer works at Layer 7 for HTTP and HTTPS with features such as path-based and host-based routing. It uses a DNS name backed by changing IP addresses, so it cannot satisfy a static IP requirement.

Last verified: 2026-09-02

Question 41 clf-core-services-overview-041

Hard · Choose one

A company holds legacy database licenses that are tied to physical sockets and cores and require the license auditor to see the exact physical server the software runs on. Which Amazon EC2 option satisfies this?

  1. a Placement groups
  2. b Dedicated Instances
  3. c On-Demand Capacity Reservations
  4. d Dedicated Hosts
Show answer & explanation

Answer: D

Why D is correct

An EC2 Dedicated Host is a physical server allocated for the customer's exclusive use, and it exposes visibility into the number of sockets and physical cores. That visibility, plus host affinity so the same instance returns to the same host, is what per-socket, per-core, and bring-your-own-license models require.

Why the others are wrong

  • A — Placement groups influence how instances are physically placed relative to each other for networking or resilience reasons. They do not provide dedicated hardware or licensing visibility.
  • B — Dedicated Instances also run on hardware dedicated to a single customer, but they do not give the customer visibility or control over the specific physical host, its socket count, or its core count, so socket-based licensing cannot be satisfied.
  • C — Capacity Reservations guarantee that capacity is available in an Availability Zone. They say nothing about physical server isolation or license visibility.

Last verified: 2026-09-02

Question 42 clf-core-services-overview-042

Hard · Select 2 answers

Which TWO statements about AWS Lambda are TRUE? (Choose TWO.)

  1. a Charges are based on the number of requests and the duration the code runs at the configured memory setting
  2. b Lambda functions can be configured to run continuously for up to 24 hours
  3. c A Lambda function must be attached to an Auto Scaling group to handle increased load
  4. d Lambda scales automatically by running additional concurrent executions as more events arrive
  5. e The customer is responsible for patching the operating system that the function runs on
Show answer & explanation

Answer: A and D

Why A and D are correct

Lambda pricing has two components: the number of requests and the duration, where duration is measured in milliseconds and multiplied by the memory allocated to the function. Lambda also scales horizontally on its own, starting additional concurrent execution environments as the event rate rises and scaling back to zero when there is no work.

Why the others are wrong

  • B — The maximum Lambda timeout is 15 minutes, not 24 hours.
  • C — Auto Scaling groups apply to EC2 instances. Lambda concurrency scaling is built in and requires no scaling group.
  • E — Under the shared responsibility model, AWS manages the operating system and runtime patching for Lambda. That is a defining benefit of the serverless model.

Last verified: 2026-09-02

Question 43 clf-core-services-overview-043

Easy · Choose one

Which AWS service is a fully managed NoSQL key-value and document database that delivers single-digit millisecond performance at virtually any scale, with no servers to manage?

  1. a Amazon Redshift
  2. b Amazon DynamoDB
  3. c Amazon Neptune
  4. d Amazon RDS for MySQL
Show answer & explanation

Answer: B

Why B is correct

Amazon DynamoDB is a serverless, fully managed NoSQL database supporting key-value and document data models. It provides consistent single-digit millisecond response times, automatically spreads data across multiple Availability Zones, and requires no instance provisioning or patching.

Why the others are wrong

  • A — Amazon Redshift is a data warehouse designed for complex analytical queries over large volumes of structured data, not for low-latency operational key-value lookups.
  • C — Amazon Neptune is a graph database optimized for storing and traversing highly connected data such as social networks and fraud rings.
  • D — Amazon RDS for MySQL is a managed relational database. It uses SQL tables with fixed schemas and runs on database instances the customer selects.

Last verified: 2026-09-02

Question 44 clf-core-services-overview-044

Easy · Choose one

Which AWS service makes it easier to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud, supporting engines that include MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and Db2?

  1. a Amazon DynamoDB
  2. b AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS)
  3. c Amazon ElastiCache
  4. d Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS)
Show answer & explanation

Answer: D

Why D is correct

Amazon RDS is the managed relational database service. It handles provisioning, operating system and database patching, backups, and failure detection and recovery, and it supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and Db2, in addition to Amazon Aurora.

Why the others are wrong

  • A — Amazon DynamoDB is a NoSQL database. It does not run any of the listed relational engines.
  • B — AWS DMS migrates data into or between databases. It does not host the database itself.
  • C — Amazon ElastiCache is an in-memory caching and data store service compatible with Valkey, Memcached, and Redis OSS. It is not a relational database.

Last verified: 2026-09-02

Question 45 clf-core-services-overview-045

Easy · Choose one

A company needs a database optimized for storing and navigating highly connected data, such as identifying relationships in a social network or detecting fraud rings. Which AWS database service should it use?

  1. a Amazon Aurora
  2. b Amazon Neptune
  3. c Amazon ElastiCache
  4. d Amazon DynamoDB
Show answer & explanation

Answer: B

Why B is correct

Amazon Neptune is a fully managed graph database service. It stores data as vertices and edges and supports graph query languages, which makes traversing relationships across billions of connections fast. Social networking, recommendation engines, knowledge graphs, and fraud detection are its canonical use cases.

Why the others are wrong

  • A — Aurora is a relational engine. Deep relationship traversal in SQL requires repeated self-joins that scale poorly.
  • C — Amazon ElastiCache is an in-memory caching and data store service. It accelerates reads for other databases but does not model or traverse graph relationships.
  • D — DynamoDB is a key-value and document store. Traversing many-to-many relationships would require expensive application-side joins.

Last verified: 2026-09-02