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CLF-C02 Cloud Technology and Services Practice Questions

Fifteen practice questions for Domain 3 of the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) exam. Choose an answer to check it, then read why each wrong option is wrong.

Cloud Technology and Services is about 34% of the scored exam content, the largest domain. It covers compute, storage, databases, networking, global infrastructure, and AI and analytics services.

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15 questions

Practice questions

1 Availability Zones

Which term describes one or more discrete data centers with redundant power, networking, and connectivity within an AWS Region?

  1. Option A: Availability Zone
  2. Option B: Edge location
  3. Option C: AWS Region
  4. Option D: Virtual private cloud (VPC)

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. An Availability Zone (AZ) is one or more discrete data centers with redundant power, networking, and connectivity. A Region contains multiple AZs that are physically separate but connected by low-latency links.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. Edge locations are sites that cache content closer to users for services such as Amazon CloudFront.
  • C. A Region is a geographic area that contains multiple AZs.
  • D. A VPC is a logically isolated virtual network in your account, not a physical facility.

2 High availability with Availability Zones

A company wants its application on Amazon EC2 to keep running if one data center has a problem. What should the company do?

  1. Option A: Deploy instances across multiple Availability Zones
  2. Option B: Use one larger instance in a single Availability Zone
  3. Option C: Increase the size of the instance's EBS volume
  4. Option D: Run everything in one Availability Zone and take daily snapshots

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. Spreading instances across AZs, typically behind a load balancer, means a problem in one AZ does not take the application down.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. A single AZ is a single point of failure regardless of instance size.
  • C. Volume size has no effect on availability during an AZ outage.
  • D. Snapshots help recovery but do not keep the application running during an outage.

3 Content delivery

Which AWS service delivers content to users with low latency by caching it at edge locations?

  1. Option A: Amazon CloudFront
  2. Option B: Amazon Route 53
  3. Option C: AWS Direct Connect
  4. Option D: Amazon VPC

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) that caches content at edge locations close to users.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. Route 53 is a DNS service. It does not cache your content.
  • C. Direct Connect is a dedicated private network connection from your premises to AWS.
  • D. A VPC is a private virtual network within a Region.

4 Serverless compute

Which AWS service runs code in response to events without requiring the customer to provision or manage servers?

  1. Option A: AWS Lambda
  2. Option B: Amazon EC2
  3. Option C: AWS Elastic Beanstalk
  4. Option D: Amazon Lightsail

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. AWS Lambda runs your code in response to triggers, and you pay only for the compute time your code uses.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. EC2 provides virtual servers that you configure, patch, and manage.
  • C. Elastic Beanstalk deploys and manages applications for you, but it still provisions servers such as EC2 instances in your account.
  • D. Lightsail provides simple virtual private servers and other prebuilt resources with predictable pricing.

5 Containers

A company runs containerized applications and does not want to manage the underlying servers. Which AWS compute option meets this requirement?

  1. Option A: AWS Fargate
  2. Option B: Amazon EC2 instances that the company manages
  3. Option C: AWS Outposts
  4. Option D: Amazon EBS

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. AWS Fargate is a serverless compute engine for containers. It works with Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS, so you do not provision or manage servers.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. Running containers on EC2 means you manage the instances.
  • C. Outposts extends AWS infrastructure and services to on-premises facilities.
  • D. EBS is block storage, not a compute option.

6 Auto scaling

Which AWS service automatically adds or removes Amazon EC2 instances based on demand?

  1. Option A: Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling
  2. Option B: Elastic Load Balancing
  3. Option C: AWS Config
  4. Option D: Amazon CloudFront

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. EC2 Auto Scaling launches and terminates instances according to scaling policies and health checks, keeping capacity matched to demand.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. Elastic Load Balancing distributes incoming traffic across targets. It does not add or remove instances, though it is often used together with Auto Scaling.
  • C. AWS Config records and evaluates resource configurations.
  • D. CloudFront caches content at edge locations.

7 Object storage

Which AWS storage service provides object storage designed for 99.999999999% (11 nines) durability?

  1. Option A: Amazon S3
  2. Option B: Amazon EBS
  3. Option C: Amazon EFS
  4. Option D: Amazon EC2 instance store

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. Amazon S3 stores data as objects in buckets, with virtually unlimited scale and 11 nines of durability.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. EBS is block storage for EC2 instances.
  • C. EFS is a managed file system that many instances can mount at once.
  • D. Instance store is temporary block storage physically attached to the host. Its data is lost when the instance is terminated.

8 Block storage

Which AWS storage option provides block storage volumes for Amazon EC2 that can persist independently of the life of an instance?

  1. Option A: Amazon EBS
  2. Option B: EC2 instance store
  3. Option C: Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive
  4. Option D: Amazon EFS

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. Amazon EBS volumes attach to instances like disks and can persist separately from them. You can also back them up with snapshots.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. Instance store is temporary storage tied to the life of the instance.
  • C. Glacier Deep Archive is archival object storage with retrieval times measured in hours.
  • D. EFS is a shared file system, not block storage.

9 S3 storage classes

A company stores data that is accessed infrequently but must be available within milliseconds when requested. Which Amazon S3 storage class is the MOST cost-effective fit?

  1. Option A: S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA)
  2. Option B: S3 Standard
  3. Option C: S3 Glacier Deep Archive
  4. Option D: S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. S3 Standard-IA has a lower storage price than S3 Standard, millisecond access, and a per-GB retrieval fee. It suits data you rarely read but need quickly.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. S3 Standard is designed for frequently accessed data and has a higher storage price.
  • C. Glacier Deep Archive is the lowest-cost archive class, but retrieval takes hours.
  • D. Glacier Flexible Retrieval is an archive class with retrieval times from minutes to hours.

10 Relational databases

Which AWS service is a managed relational database service that supports engines such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle?

  1. Option A: Amazon RDS
  2. Option B: Amazon DynamoDB
  3. Option C: Amazon Redshift
  4. Option D: Amazon ElastiCache

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. Amazon RDS manages routine tasks such as provisioning, patching, backups, and failover for relational databases.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. DynamoDB is a NoSQL key-value and document database.
  • C. Redshift is a data warehouse for analytics.
  • D. ElastiCache is an in-memory caching service.

11 NoSQL databases

Which AWS service is a serverless NoSQL database that delivers single-digit millisecond performance at any scale?

  1. Option A: Amazon DynamoDB
  2. Option B: Amazon RDS
  3. Option C: Amazon Redshift
  4. Option D: Amazon Aurora

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed, serverless key-value and document database built for single-digit millisecond performance at any scale.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. RDS is relational and runs on database instances you choose and size.
  • C. Redshift is a data warehouse for analytic queries over large datasets.
  • D. Aurora is a relational database compatible with MySQL and PostgreSQL.

12 Virtual networks

Which AWS service lets a company launch resources in a logically isolated virtual network that it defines?

  1. Option A: Amazon VPC
  2. Option B: AWS Direct Connect
  3. Option C: Amazon Route 53
  4. Option D: AWS Shield

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. Amazon VPC gives you a logically isolated section of the AWS Cloud where you control IP ranges, subnets, route tables, and gateways.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. Direct Connect provides a dedicated connection from your premises to AWS.
  • C. Route 53 is a DNS service.
  • D. AWS Shield protects against DDoS attacks.

13 DNS

Which AWS service provides a highly available and scalable Domain Name System (DNS) web service?

  1. Option A: Amazon Route 53
  2. Option B: Amazon CloudFront
  3. Option C: Elastic Load Balancing
  4. Option D: Amazon VPC

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. Amazon Route 53 is a DNS service that also handles domain registration and health checks with DNS failover.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. CloudFront is a content delivery network.
  • C. Elastic Load Balancing distributes traffic across targets within a Region.
  • D. A VPC is a virtual network, not a DNS service.

14 Infrastructure as code

A company wants to define its AWS infrastructure in templates and create the same environment repeatedly. Which service should it use?

  1. Option A: AWS CloudFormation
  2. Option B: AWS Config
  3. Option C: AWS Trusted Advisor
  4. Option D: Amazon Inspector

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. AWS CloudFormation provisions and manages resources from templates written in JSON or YAML. This is infrastructure as code.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. AWS Config records resource configurations and evaluates compliance. It does not create resources.
  • C. Trusted Advisor provides best-practice recommendations.
  • D. Amazon Inspector scans workloads for vulnerabilities.

15 AI and machine learning services

Which AWS service extracts text and data from scanned documents such as forms and tables?

  1. Option A: Amazon Textract
  2. Option B: Amazon Rekognition
  3. Option C: Amazon Comprehend
  4. Option D: Amazon Polly

Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. Amazon Textract uses machine learning to extract printed text, handwriting, and structured data such as tables and forms from scanned documents.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B. Rekognition analyzes images and videos, for example detecting objects and faces.
  • C. Comprehend applies natural language processing to text you already have in text form.
  • D. Polly converts text into lifelike speech.

What Domain 3 covers on the CLF-C02

Deploying and operating in AWS

Know the ways to interact with AWS: the Management Console, the AWS CLI, and SDKs, plus infrastructure as code with AWS CloudFormation. Understand cloud, hybrid, and on-premises deployment models.

Global infrastructure

A Region is a geographic area with multiple Availability Zones. Each AZ is one or more data centers with redundant power and networking. Edge locations cache content for services such as Amazon CloudFront. Choose Regions by compliance requirements, latency, cost, and service availability.

Compute

Amazon EC2, AWS Lambda, containers with Amazon ECS, Amazon EKS, and AWS Fargate, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, EC2 Auto Scaling, and Elastic Load Balancing. Be able to pick between virtual servers, serverless functions, and containers from a short scenario.

Databases

Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora for relational workloads, Amazon DynamoDB for NoSQL, Amazon Redshift for data warehousing, Amazon ElastiCache for caching, and AWS Database Migration Service for moving databases.

Networking

Amazon VPC with subnets, security groups, and network ACLs; Amazon Route 53 for DNS; Amazon CloudFront for content delivery; and AWS Direct Connect and AWS VPN for connecting on-premises networks.

Storage

Amazon S3 and its storage classes, Amazon EBS block storage, Amazon EFS file storage, and AWS Backup. Know which storage type fits object, block, and file needs, and how access frequency drives the S3 class.

AI, machine learning, and analytics

Services such as Amazon SageMaker, Rekognition, Textract, Comprehend, Polly, and Transcribe for AI and machine learning, and Amazon Athena and Amazon QuickSight for analytics. The exam tests matching a described task to the right service.

How to use these questions

This is the biggest domain, so it repays the most practice time. Build a one-line summary for each service (what it is, what it is not) and quiz yourself on the look-alikes: EBS versus EFS versus S3, RDS versus DynamoDB, CloudFront versus Route 53.

Practice the other domains

The exam covers four domains. See all CLF-C02 practice questions by domain, or continue with one of these:

Keep practicing

Learn730 has 200 CLF-C02 practice questions across all four domains, 134 flashcards, and a beginner Cloud 101 section. A timed simulation exam is coming.

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