AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C02) — Question 758

A company runs a web-based portal that provides users with global breaking news, local alerts, and weather updates. The portal delivers each user a personalized view by using a mixture of static and dynamic content. Content is served over HTTPS through an API server running on an Amazon EC2 instance behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The company wants the portal to provide this content to its users across the world as quickly as possible.
How should a solutions architect design the application to ensure the LEAST amount of latency for all users?

Answer options

• A. Deploy the application stack in a single AWS Region. Use Amazon CloudFront to serve all static and dynamic content by specifying the ALB as an origin.
• B. Deploy the application stack in two AWS Regions. Use an Amazon Route 53 latency routing policy to serve all content from the ALB in the closest Region.
• C. Deploy the application stack in a single AWS Region. Use Amazon CloudFront to serve the static content. Serve the dynamic content directly from the ALB.
• D. Deploy the application stack in two AWS Regions. Use an Amazon Route 53 geolocation routing policy to serve all content from the ALB in the closest Region.

Correct answer: A

Explanation

Amazon CloudFront reduces latency globally for both static and dynamic content by caching static assets at edge locations and optimizing the network path to the origin for dynamic requests. Serving dynamic content directly from the ALB bypasses CloudFront's network optimizations, such as TCP handshake termination closer to the user and persistent connections to the origin. Multi-region deployments using Route 53 latency or geolocation routing are more complex and costly, and they do not provide the edge-caching benefits of CloudFront.