The correct answer isAbecause the company wants engineers to reach aspecific development EC2 instancethrough aRoute 53 hosted zone, while ensuring that traffic continues to route correctlyeven if the development instance is replaced. The best way to achieve this is to point the Route 53 record for the development website to theApplication Load Balancerand then configure anALB listener rulethat forwards requests for the development hostname to adedicated target groupcontaining the development instance.

This design works well because the ALB provides a stable endpoint, and Route 53 can alias the development DNS name to the ALB. If the development EC2 instance is replaced, the target group can simply register the new instance. The DNS record does not need to change, and engineers continue to use the same development URL. This minimizes operational effort and supports automatic continuity.

Option B is incorrect because using a public IP address for a specific instance does not automatically handle instance replacement unless additional manual steps are taken. Option C is incorrect because redirecting users to a public IP is not the intended design and introduces unnecessary exposure and management complexity. Option D is incorrect because placing all instances in the same target group would not ensure that requests for the development website are sent only to the specific development instance.

AWS best practices favor usingload balancers and target groupsas stable routing layers rather than binding DNS names directly to ephemeral instance IP addresses. Therefore, the most reliable and maintainable solution is to useRoute 53 + ALB + a dedicated target groupfor the development instance.