Salesforce Certified Heroku Architecture Designer Exam Dumps & Practice Test Questions

Question 1:

Universal Containers has a Heroku-based application and needs to send its logs to two external destinations: one is an on-premise Syslog server, and the other is a cloud analytics platform that accepts logs via an HTTPS endpoint. 

Which strategy should the architect implement to achieve this effectively?

A. Use Apache Kafka on Heroku to receive logs, then set up a separate application to forward logs to both destinations.
B. Use Heroku Redis as a temporary log buffer, then employ an add-on to distribute logs.
C. Implement a custom logging library in the app code to send logs to both endpoints.
D. Write logs to stdout and set up individual log drains for each destination.

Correct Answer: D

Explanation:

In the Heroku ecosystem, the best practice for application logging is to write logs to standard output (stdout) and standard error (stderr). These outputs are automatically captured by Logplex, Heroku’s real-time log delivery system, which aggregates logs from various sources including application, system, and add-ons.

Once logs are in Logplex, they can be forwarded to external services via log drains. A log drain is a configuration that tells Heroku to send log data to a specified destination, such as a Syslog server or an HTTPS endpoint.

Option D is the correct solution because it utilizes Heroku’s native logging infrastructure to forward logs without modifying the app code. You simply configure two separate log drains—one for the on-premise Syslog server (via Syslog protocol), and another for the cloud analytics provider (via HTTPS). This approach ensures:

• Scalability: Logplex handles high-volume log streaming without burdening the application.

• Reliability: Log delivery is handled independently from application execution.

• Decoupling: Logging infrastructure is kept separate from the application logic.
  
  

• Ease of management: Log drains can be added, removed, or updated without deploying new code.

Let’s examine why the other options are suboptimal:

• Option A (Apache Kafka): Kafka is suitable for event streaming but adds unnecessary complexity for basic log forwarding. It requires a consumer service, adds infrastructure overhead, and doesn't utilize Heroku's native capabilities.

• Option B (Redis as buffer): Redis is a fast in-memory data store, not built for log persistence. Using it to buffer logs is risky and inefficient, especially under load. Redis also lacks durability guarantees for logs.

• Option C (Custom logging library): Hardcoding destinations into app logic violates separation of concerns, increases maintenance complexity, and creates risks if one of the destinations becomes unavailable.

In conclusion, the Heroku-native method of writing logs to stdout and using multiple log drains provides a clean, compliant, and scalable approach to meet the requirement.

Question 2:

A healthcare institution is rebuilding its patient registration system on Heroku. The current system is compliant with HIPAA and ISO 27018, and the new system must maintain this compliance while synchronizing sensitive PII with Salesforce. 

What Heroku Enterprise architecture should the architect propose?

A. Use Shield Private Space, Shield Heroku Postgres, and Apache Kafka to stream data from Salesforce.
B. Use Common Runtime with standard Heroku Postgres and Heroku Connect.
C. Use Shield Private Space, Shield Heroku Postgres, and Shield Heroku Connect.
D. Use Private Space with Private Heroku Postgres and Heroku Connect.

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

When building cloud applications that handle sensitive healthcare data, strict compliance with HIPAA and ISO 27018 is mandatory. Heroku addresses these regulatory requirements through its Heroku Shield product suite, which includes:

• Shield Private Space: A dedicated, isolated runtime with private networking and compliance-grade security features.

• Shield Heroku Postgres: A database offering encryption-at-rest, data residency controls, access logging, and high availability—all tuned for HIPAA.

• Shield Heroku Connect: A secure, compliant data synchronization service between Heroku and Salesforce, built specifically to handle PII and PHI (Protected Health Information).

Option C is correct because it fully leverages all three Heroku Shield components, ensuring end-to-end compliance and data integrity. This architecture allows the hospital to:

• Maintain compliance with HIPAA and ISO 27018 through encryption, access controls, and secure infrastructure.

• Synchronize data securely between Heroku and Salesforce using Shield Heroku Connect, which supports encryption and logging.

• Deploy in an isolated and private network space, reducing the risk of external threats and enabling compliance with internal audit requirements.

Let’s assess the other options:

• Option A includes Shield Private Space and Shield Heroku Postgres, which are compliant, but using Apache Kafka to stream data from Salesforce is not a standard or supported pattern. Moreover, Kafka is not certified for HIPAA, and Salesforce does not natively support data streaming via Kafka. This violates the compliance and supportability requirements.

• Option B uses Common Runtime and standard Heroku Postgres, neither of which are HIPAA compliant. While Heroku Connect can sync with Salesforce, it is not Shield-grade. This option fails to meet the core compliance need.

• Option D involves Private Space and Private Postgres, offering some isolation, but lacks the Shield designation. Without Shield, this architecture cannot guarantee compliance with HIPAA or ISO 27018, especially in regard to encryption standards, logging, and audit controls.

In conclusion, Option C is the only solution that provides the required compliance features and secure synchronization with Salesforce, making it the appropriate choice for this healthcare application.

Question 3:

A client is building a new internal API application on Heroku. The API must only be accessible to other Heroku-hosted apps from the same client, and all traffic between the services must avoid traversing the public internet.

Which option should a Heroku Architect choose to satisfy these conditions?

A. Deploy the app in a Private Space with default configuration
B. Deploy the app in a Private Space and define trusted IP ranges
C. Deploy the app with Internal Routing enabled in a Private Space
D. Deploy the app in a Shield Private Space for enhanced TLS enforcement

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

When the requirement is to restrict access to Heroku-hosted apps only and ensure private network communication without touching the public internet, the optimal solution is to use Internal Routing within a Private Space.

A. Create the application in a Private Space with default options
Although a Private Space provides an isolated network environment with dedicated runtime, it does not automatically route traffic internally. By default, apps in the same space still communicate through public endpoints unless Internal Routing is specifically enabled. Therefore, this setup doesn’t fully meet the requirement.

B. Create the application in a Private Space and restrict trusted IP ranges
Trusted IP ranges control who can initiate traffic to an app, but they do not ensure that the traffic remains within Heroku’s private network. This approach helps with external access control, but not with internal routing isolation.

C. Create the application with Internal Routing enabled, in a Private Space
This is the correct solution.
Enabling Internal Routing ensures that Heroku applications within the same Private Space communicate using internal DNS and networking, bypassing the public internet altogether.
This configuration provides:

• Private-only communication between services

• No external exposure for the API

• Lower latency and higher security

• Seamless internal service discovery via .internal domains

This setup is specifically built for service-to-service APIs within a secure and performance-optimized environment.

D. Create the application in a Shield Private Space to enforce stricter TLS termination
While Shield Private Spaces offer enhanced compliance features (e.g., HIPAA, stricter encryption), they don’t automatically provide private communication unless Internal Routing is enabled. So, even though they offer extra security layers, they do not inherently satisfy the requirement.

To keep traffic restricted between Heroku apps and ensure it never leaves the internal network, Internal Routing within a Private Space is the only choice that directly fulfills both conditions.

Question 4:

A client using Heroku Postgres wants to enable fast and easy access to specific subsets of production data for reporting purposes.

Which two features of Heroku Dataclips are best suited for this need? (Choose two.)

A. JSON export with CORS support
B. CSV export of query results
C. REST API interface for direct data interaction
D. Postgres dump of query output

Correct Answers: A, B

Explanation:

Heroku Dataclips is a powerful utility that enables users to create and share SQL query outputs from Heroku Postgres databases. These outputs can be easily consumed by reporting tools, dashboards, or even browsers—without requiring direct access to the database.

Here’s how each option applies:

A. JSON export of query results, with CORS support
Correct.
Dataclips allow query results to be exported as JSON, which is ideal for web-based dashboards, JavaScript apps, and APIs. CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) support means this data can be fetched safely from web applications hosted on other domains. This feature makes it easy to embed live data into user interfaces.

B. CSV export of query results
Correct.
CSV exports are essential for traditional reporting, where stakeholders use tools like Excel or Google Sheets. This allows teams to manually analyze or import data into BI tools. It provides an efficient, lightweight solution to access and share subsets of data.

C. A simple REST API access to query results
Incorrect.
Dataclips offer read-only access via static URLs, not a full-featured REST API. While they serve data via HTTP endpoints, they do not support standard API operations like POST, PUT, or DELETE. So this does not qualify as a REST API, and using them programmatically is limited to fetching pre-defined results only.

D. Postgres dump file of query results
Incorrect.
Dataclips are not used for creating database dumps. Postgres dumps are large-scale database backups typically generated using pg_dump — meant for restoration or migration, not for querying slices of data. Dataclips, by contrast, are meant for real-time or near-real-time query output sharing, not system-level data exports.

Conclusion:

Heroku Dataclips best serve reporting needs through structured data exports like JSON (for developers) and CSV (for business analysts). These formats offer fast, secure, and flexible ways to retrieve live data without database access.

Question 5:

What are three essential requirements to properly configure Single Sign-On (SSO) integration with Heroku?

A. A SAML-enabled identity provider with native Heroku templates
B. A Heroku Enterprise Team
C. Individual Heroku accounts created in advance for each user
D. A valid SSO certificate issued by the identity provider
E. Administrative-level access to the identity provider configuration settings

Correct Answers: B, D, E

Explanation:

Setting up Single Sign-On (SSO) for Heroku enhances security and simplifies access management by allowing users to authenticate using corporate credentials from an external identity provider (IdP). However, SSO setup is only available under specific conditions, especially for enterprise use cases.

Let’s analyze each of the answer choices and why B, D, and E are required:

• A. A SAML-enabled identity provider with native Heroku templates
  While it’s convenient if the identity provider has built-in support or templates for Heroku, it is not a requirement. The critical need is for the identity provider to be SAML 2.0-compliant, which is the protocol Heroku uses for authentication. Manual configuration using metadata is possible even without a native template. Hence, this option is helpful but not mandatory.

• B. A Heroku Enterprise Team
  This is a core requirement. Only customers with a Heroku Enterprise Team can enable and use SSO. Free-tier or standard Heroku accounts do not support this feature. Without the Enterprise Team structure, there’s no access to the SSO setup functionality within the Heroku dashboard.

• C. Individual Heroku accounts created in advance for each user
  This is not necessary. Heroku supports Just-in-Time (JIT) user provisioning, meaning new users are automatically created in Heroku when they first log in through SSO. This eliminates the need for manual pre-creation of user accounts.

• D. A valid SSO certificate issued by the identity provider
  Essential. The SSO certificate, typically an X.509 certificate, is used by the IdP to digitally sign authentication assertions. This allows Heroku to verify the authenticity and integrity of the SAML response. Without this certificate, secure SSO cannot function.

• E. Administrative-level access to the identity provider configuration settings
  Required. SSO configuration includes tasks such as uploading metadata, defining assertion rules, and establishing trust. All of this must be done inside the IdP’s admin console, which requires administrative permissions.

In conclusion, the successful setup of Heroku SSO depends on:

1. Having an Enterprise Team,

2. A valid SSO certificate, and

3. Administrative access to configure the IdP.

Question 6:

Universal Containers is designing a Heroku application that will process credit card transactions and must comply with PCI DSS standards. What architecture should be selected to ensure proper security and compliance?

A. Common Runtime using secure containers
B. Private Space limited by trusted IP ranges
C. Shield Private Space combined with Shield Postgres
D. Private Space configured for internal routing only

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

When developing an application that will handle cardholder data, it must meet the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). This is a mandatory compliance requirement for storing, processing, or transmitting credit card information. Not all Heroku environments are equipped to meet such standards.

Here’s why Shield Private Space with Shield Postgres is the correct and only viable choice:

• A. Common Runtime using secure containers
  Heroku’s Common Runtime runs on multi-tenant shared infrastructure, meaning multiple customers' apps share physical resources. Despite secure container isolation, this environment is not certified for PCI DSS compliance. Therefore, it cannot legally handle sensitive payment data.

• B. Private Space limited by trusted IP ranges
  Private Spaces provide dedicated, network-isolated environments and allow for enhanced access controls, such as IP whitelisting. However, a standard Private Space is still not PCI-compliant. It lacks certain security measures such as enhanced encryption, secure data stores, and compliance auditing—all of which are required under PCI DSS.

• C. Shield Private Space combined with Shield Postgres
  This is the only correct option. Heroku Shield Private Spaces are designed for high-security, high-compliance workloads. They offer:
  
  

• Full network isolation

• End-to-end encryption (in transit and at rest)

• Enhanced logging and audit support

• Support for PCI, HIPAA, and other certifications

• The Shield Postgres add-on, which ensures encrypted and compliant database storage
  
  

• This configuration is certified and specifically built for applications that process credit card payments. It aligns directly with PCI DSS technical requirements for data protection, access control, monitoring, and secure infrastructure.
  
  

• D. Private Space configured for internal routing only
  While internal routing enhances security by avoiding public internet exposure, this setting alone does not make the environment PCI-compliant. It can be useful within secure infrastructures, but lacks the required compliance guarantees without Shield support.

To legally and securely build a payment-processing app on Heroku, only the Shield Private Space architecture, paired with the Shield Postgres database, satisfies the technical and compliance mandates of PCI DSS.

Question 7:

A customer needs to establish a secure, private network link between Heroku applications deployed in a Private Space and services running in an AWS VPC. 

Which Heroku feature best enables this integration?

A. Internal Routing
B. Private Space Peering
C. Private Space VPN connections
D. Heroku Connect

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

When businesses deploy applications in Heroku Private Spaces, they often require secure, private communication with infrastructure hosted in external environments such as an AWS Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). The best way to establish such a secure network connection is through Private Space VPN connections—a Heroku feature designed specifically for this purpose.

Private Space VPN connections allow an encrypted tunnel to be formed between a Heroku Private Space and a remote network, including AWS VPCs. The tunnel is built using IPsec VPN protocols, providing enterprise-grade encryption and isolation for data traveling between environments. This setup avoids exposure to the public internet, greatly reducing the risk of interception or attack, while also complying with strict security policies.

Let’s review the incorrect choices:

• A. Internal Routing is a feature that optimizes communication within Heroku Private Spaces. It ensures that apps deployed in the same Private Space talk over Heroku's private internal network. However, it does not support or enable connectivity to external services, so it doesn’t meet the need here.

• B. Private Space Peering enables network-level peering between a Heroku Private Space and an AWS VPC. While this may seem viable, it has limitations, such as lack of support for overlapping CIDRs, no transitive routing, and restricted regional compatibility. VPN connections, by contrast, offer greater flexibility and are the preferred solution in modern hybrid-cloud architectures.

• D. Heroku Connect is a data integration service used to synchronize Salesforce data with Heroku Postgres. It has no role in network connectivity or secure tunneling and is completely unrelated to AWS VPC integration.

In summary, if a client needs secure, scalable, and private communication between a Heroku-hosted application and AWS-hosted resources, Private Space VPN connections are the most robust and suitable choice. They offer strong security, are highly configurable, and align with Heroku’s architecture for enterprise deployments.

Question 8:

A customer wants to enhance their Heroku web app with video processing capabilities, which require heavy CPU usage. Which two solutions should a Heroku Architect suggest for implementing this feature efficiently? (Select two.)

A. Define a new worker dyno process that pulls jobs from a queue to handle video processing
B. Use a specialized video processing add-on from the Heroku Elements Marketplace
C. Delegate video tasks to the staging version of the app to reduce production load
D. Split each video task across multiple web dynos to distribute CPU load

Correct Answers: A and B

Explanation:

When a Heroku web application needs to handle CPU-intensive tasks—such as encoding or rendering videos—it's essential to prevent those operations from affecting the responsiveness of web dynos, which are designed for fast HTTP request/response cycles. Heroku provides architectural options for offloading such tasks, and the most effective ones involve worker dynos and external processing services.

The first recommended option is A: creating a new process type for worker dynos. In Heroku, this is done by defining an additional entry in the Procfile (e.g., worker: node videoWorker.js). These dynos are optimized for background tasks and can process video jobs fetched from a queueing system like Redis, RabbitMQ, or Amazon SQS. This method ensures asynchronous, scalable processing and keeps web dynos free for serving users.

The second recommended approach is B: using a Heroku Elements Marketplace add-on for video processing. These add-ons often provide API-based video services—such as transcoding, compression, or streaming—and are optimized for performance. This is especially helpful for teams that prefer not to build or maintain complex media-processing infrastructure themselves. Offloading this responsibility to a reliable third-party service can drastically simplify development and maintenance.

Now let’s consider the ineffective choices:

• C: Using the staging app for video processing is a misuse of environments. The staging version is meant for pre-production testing, not for handling live or resource-heavy tasks. Doing so creates reliability, security, and separation-of-duties issues.

• D: Dividing tasks across web dynos breaks Heroku best practices. Web dynos are not suited for intensive background jobs and attempting to parallelize CPU-heavy work across them risks slow response times, memory crashes, or scaling problems. Web dynos should remain focused on handling user interactions.

In conclusion, for scalable, efficient, and production-grade video processing in Heroku, the worker dyno architecture and Heroku add-ons are the most aligned with platform capabilities and operational best practices.

The correct answers are: A and B.

Question 9:

Universal Containers is running a Heroku application that utilizes several third-party add-ons. Due to new regulatory requirements under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), they now need to ensure control over where data is stored. 

What should an architect recommend about managing data residency in this scenario?

A. Heroku does not control where add-on providers store data
B. Heroku support can configure add-ons to meet specific data residency needs
C. Heroku guarantees the location of its control plane APIs
D. Salesforce’s GDPR compliance automatically applies to Heroku add-ons

Correct Answer: A

Explanation:

When considering GDPR compliance, a critical concern is understanding where and how user data is stored and processed, especially when third-party integrations are involved. In this scenario, Universal Containers (UC) has a Heroku-based application that relies on several third-party add-ons. These add-ons may store or process user data independently of the Heroku platform.

The correct answer is A, because Heroku acts only as a broker for third-party add-ons in its marketplace. It does not control the infrastructure, data storage policies, or compliance standards of those external services. Each add-on provider operates its own systems and is responsible for its own data residency and GDPR compliance.

Organizations like UC cannot rely on Heroku or Salesforce to ensure GDPR alignment for these external services. Instead, they must conduct a vendor risk assessment and directly confirm where each add-on provider stores and processes data. Some providers may host data in specific regions like the EU, but unless explicitly stated, there are no guarantees from Heroku about this aspect.

Let’s evaluate the incorrect options:

• Option B is false because Heroku support does not have control over the configuration or infrastructure of third-party add-ons. Add-on providers expose their own APIs and dashboards for configuration, and Heroku cannot customize them for specific residency needs.

• Option C discusses Heroku’s control surface APIs, which might have defined geographic locations, such as U.S.-based AWS regions. However, this refers only to management interfaces like the dashboard or CLI, not user data or third-party integrations, which are the focus of GDPR.

• Option D is incorrect and misleading. While Salesforce and Heroku as platforms comply with GDPR, this does not extend automatically to independent third-party services offered in the Heroku ecosystem. These vendors must demonstrate their own GDPR compliance separately.

In conclusion, when data privacy regulations like GDPR are in play, Universal Containers must treat each third-party add-on as a separate data processor and ensure compliance through due diligence. Heroku does not govern where add-ons store or process data, making A the correct answer.

Question 10:

A Heroku application is experiencing memory-related failures during intensive image processing jobs. The app uses worker dynos of type standard-1x. 

What should the architect suggest to address the memory constraints and improve stability?

A. Increase the number of worker dynos
B. Distribute the processing task across multiple dynos
C. Move the application into a Heroku Private Space
D. Upgrade worker dynos from standard-1x to standard-2x

Correct Answer: D

Explanation:

When applications deal with heavy computation tasks like image processing, memory limitations can quickly become a bottleneck—leading to process crashes, errors, or degraded performance. In this scenario, the app uses standard-1x worker dynos, which are allocated 512 MB of RAM. This memory constraint is likely insufficient for complex processing operations.

The best solution is to upgrade to standard-2x dynos (Option D), which offer 1 GB of RAM—double the memory compared to standard-1x. This upgrade is a straightforward and effective fix for memory-related issues without introducing major architectural changes. It gives each dyno the headroom needed to handle more intensive workloads, and it can be done via a simple configuration change in the Heroku Dashboard or CLI.

Let’s examine the other options and why they’re unsuitable:

• Option A: Adding more standard-1x dynos does not address the per-dyno memory limit. While this would increase parallelism, it doesn’t help individual tasks that require more memory. If each job is crashing due to lack of RAM, more dynos just spread the problem—it doesn’t solve it.

• Option B: Breaking up image processing across multiple dynos might sound feasible, but it introduces considerable complexity. Heroku does not natively support inter-dyno communication, so implementing this would require custom code, distributed task management, and possibly external message brokers or file storage to coordinate state. This is an expensive fix for a relatively simple problem.

• Option C: Moving the app into a Private Space provides benefits like VPC isolation, region control, and Shield tier security, but it does not increase dyno memory by default. Unless you also migrate to performance dynos (which is not mentioned), the memory allocation remains unchanged.

By increasing dyno size from standard-1x to standard-2x, developers provide each worker with more memory, which directly targets the problem. It also avoids costly rewrites or infrastructure changes. This is the most efficient, scalable, and recommended approach to handling memory exhaustion in Heroku apps.