SOA-C02 Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation Practice Test 14 — 15 Questions

Question 1

An organization has a requirement to automatically scale its web application based on a custom metric that measures the number of active user sessions stored in Amazon ElastiCache. The metric is published to CloudWatch every minute. The Auto Scaling group currently uses a simple scaling policy based on CPU utilization. What is the most effective way to implement scaling based on this custom metric?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Create a target tracking scaling policy that uses the custom metric as a target.. A target tracking scaling policy in Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling can use a custom CloudWatch metric as the target metric. This policy automatically adjusts the number of instances to maintain the specified target metric value, simplifying scaling management. Option B (step scaling) could be used but is more complex to configure and requires defining step adjustments. Option C (scheduled scaling) is not suitable because the metric changes dynamically based on user sessions. Option D (simple scaling) is also possible but less responsive and requires manual threshold setting, and it does not dynamically adjust to maintain a target value like target tracking.

Answer

Create a step scaling policy that adjusts capacity based on the magnitude of the metric breach.

Answer

Create a scheduled scaling policy that increases capacity during peak hours.

Answer

Create a simple scaling policy that adds instances when the custom metric exceeds a threshold and removes when below.

Question 2

A SysOps administrator is deploying a CloudFormation stack that includes an Amazon EC2 instance. The instance needs to have the latest patch level at launch. Which TWO methods can accomplish this? (Choose TWO.)

Accepted Answer

Create a custom AMI with the latest patches.. Options A and D are correct. Using a custom AMI that already includes the latest patches ensures the instance is patched from the start (Option A). Alternatively, using a CloudFormation creation policy with AWS Systems Manager's AWS-RunPatchBaseline document allows patching at launch before the instance signals completion (Option D). Option B (user data script) might not run before the instance becomes available, so patching may not be complete at launch. Option C (AWS CodeDeploy) is for application deployment, not OS patching. Option E (AWS Config rules) enforces compliance but does not patch at launch.

Answer

Include a user data script that runs the patch command.

Answer

Use AWS CodeDeploy to run a patch script.

Answer

Configure an AWS Config rule to enforce patching.

Question 3

A company is using AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy a web application. The application experiences high traffic during business hours and low traffic at night. The administrator wants to minimize costs while ensuring performance. Which THREE actions should the administrator take? (Choose THREE.)

Accepted Answer

Enable enhanced health reporting and monitoring for the environment.. Options A, B, and D are correct. Option A (enhanced health reporting) provides better visibility into the environment's health. Option B (scheduled scaling policy) adjusts capacity to match the known traffic pattern, reducing costs during low traffic. Option D (CloudWatch alarms based on response time) enables dynamic scaling for unexpected spikes. Option C (launch template) is not directly related to the cost-performance optimization described. Option E (multiple environments) would increase costs without addressing the traffic pattern.

Answer

Use a launch template to define instance configuration.

Answer

Deploy the application in multiple Elastic Beanstalk environments.

Question 4

A company uses AWS OpsWorks for configuration management. The administrator needs to deploy a new application version to a stack of EC2 instances. The instances are part of a layer that has a custom recipe. Which THREE steps are required to update the application? (Choose THREE.)

Accepted Answer

Run the 'Execute Recipes' stack command to run the new recipe.. To deploy a new application version to a stack of EC2 instances using custom recipes in AWS OpsWorks, the required steps are: first, update the custom cookbook with the new recipe for the application deployment (Option E); second, run the 'Update Custom Cookbooks' stack command to fetch the latest cookbooks from the repository (Option B); third, run the 'Execute Recipes' stack command to run the new recipe on the instances (Option A). Options C and D are incorrect because the 'Deploy' command is used for built-in application deployment, not custom recipes, and updating the app in the console does not trigger a custom recipe execution.

Answer

Run the 'Deploy' stack command to deploy the new application.

Answer

Update the app in the OpsWorks console to point to the new application version.

Question 5

A SysOps administrator ran the above AWS CLI command to update an existing CloudFormation stack. The command failed with the error shown. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The stack is in a failed state from a previous operation and must be deleted or rollback continued.. The error indicates the stack is in a ROLLBACK_COMPLETE state, meaning a previous operation failed and the stack was rolled back. To update such a stack, you must first delete it or execute a continue update rollback. Option B (stack in failed state) is correct. Option A (template syntax) is not indicated; the error is about stack state, not syntax. Option C (invalid parameters) would also give a different error. Option D (IAM permissions) would produce an authorization error.

Answer

The template file has a syntax error.

Answer

The parameter values provided are invalid.

Answer

The IAM role specified lacks permissions.

Question 6

A company wants to automate the creation of AWS resources based on tags. When a user tags an S3 bucket with 'Deploy: True', a Lambda function should trigger to create a corresponding CloudFront distribution. Which AWS service should be used to invoke the Lambda function when the tag is applied?

Accepted Answer

AWS Config. AWS Config can be configured with a custom rule that triggers an AWS Lambda function in response to changes in resource configurations, such as when a tag is applied to an S3 bucket. AWS Config evaluates resources against desired configurations and can invoke Lambda for remediation or custom actions. Option A (CloudTrail) logs API calls but does not directly trigger Lambda. Option B (CloudWatch Events) can trigger on API calls via CloudTrail, but it requires setting up a rule to match the tag change event, which is less direct than AWS Config's resource-level monitoring. Option C (S3 Events) only triggers on object-level events (e.g., object creation), not bucket-level tag changes.

Answer

AWS CloudTrail

Answer

Amazon CloudWatch Events

Answer

Amazon S3 Events

Question 7

A SysOps administrator needs to deploy a new version of an application to an Auto Scaling group using a blue/green deployment strategy. The application runs on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. Which AWS service should be used to automate this deployment?

Accepted Answer

AWS CodeDeploy. AWS CodeDeploy supports blue/green deployments for EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer, allowing traffic to be shifted gradually. Option A (Elastic Beanstalk) is a PaaS service that manages the entire environment but does not directly target an existing Auto Scaling group. Option C (CodePipeline) orchestrates the CI/CD pipeline but relies on CodeDeploy to perform the actual deployment. Option D (CloudFormation) provisions infrastructure but does not natively handle traffic shifting or deployment strategies.

Answer

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

Answer

AWS CodePipeline

Answer

AWS CloudFormation

Question 8

A company uses AWS CloudFormation to deploy a multi-tier application. The administrator wants to ensure that the database layer is fully provisioned and available before the application layer starts. How can this be achieved?

Accepted Answer

Use the DependsOn attribute on the application layer resources to depend on the database layer.. Using CloudFormation's `DependsOn` attribute ensures that the database layer resources are created before the application layer resources, thereby meeting the requirement. Option A (separate stacks) does not inherently enforce creation order across stacks. Option B (creation policy) is used to control when instances are considered created after receiving signals, not for resource ordering. Option D (wait condition) is for pausing stack creation until an external signal is received, not for directly specifying dependencies between resources.

Answer

Create separate stacks for the database and application layers.

Answer

Use a CloudFormation creation policy on the application instances.

Answer

Use a CloudFormation wait condition in the database stack.

Question 9

A company needs to deploy a set of microservices using Docker containers on AWS. The deployment should be automated and support scaling based on demand. Which AWS service should be used to orchestrate the containers?

Accepted Answer

Amazon ECS. Amazon ECS is a fully managed container orchestration service that integrates with Auto Scaling and CloudWatch to automate deployment and scaling of Docker containers. Option A (Lambda) is for serverless functions, not containers. Option B (Elastic Beanstalk) can deploy containers but is less flexible for microservices orchestration. Option D (CodeDeploy) is for application deployments, not container orchestration.

Answer

AWS Lambda

Answer

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

Answer

AWS CodeDeploy

Question 10

A SysOps administrator is using AWS CodePipeline to automate the build and deploy process for a Java application. The build stage uses AWS CodeBuild, and the deploy stage uses AWS CodeDeploy to deploy to an Auto Scaling group. The deployment fails intermittently with a 'Timeout' error. What should the administrator check first?

Accepted Answer

The health check grace period on the load balancer.. The most common cause of timeout in CodeDeploy is the health check grace period on the load balancer being too short. Increasing the grace period allows the new instances to pass health checks. Option B (buildspec) is for CodeBuild, not deployment. Option C (S3 bucket) would cause a different error. Option D (instance profile) would cause permission errors.

Answer

The IAM instance profile for the EC2 instances.

Answer

The buildspec.yml file for syntax errors.

Answer

The S3 bucket permissions for CodePipeline artifacts.

Question 11

A SysOps administrator is deploying a new application using AWS CloudFormation. The template includes an EC2 instance with a UserData script that installs software from a private S3 bucket. What is the BEST way to ensure the EC2 instance can access the S3 bucket without storing long-term credentials on the instance?

Accepted Answer

Create an IAM role with S3 access and associate it with the instance profile.. Associating an IAM role with the instance profile allows the EC2 instance to obtain temporary credentials via the instance metadata service, which is secure and eliminates the need for long-term credentials. Option A is wrong because IAM user access keys should not be used for EC2 instances; an IAM role is required. Option B is wrong because storing access keys in UserData is insecure and exposes them. Option D is wrong because a security group or VPC endpoint only controls network access, not authentication or authorization; the instance still needs IAM permissions to access S3.

Answer

Create an IAM user with S3 access and attach the access key to the instance profile.

Answer

Store the access key ID and secret access key in the UserData script.

Answer

Configure a security group rule that allows the instance to reach S3 via VPC endpoint.

Question 12

A company uses AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy a web application. The environment is running a single instance. The SysOps administrator needs to update the application to a new version with zero downtime. What should the administrator do?

Accepted Answer

Perform an immutable update in the Elastic Beanstalk environment.. An immutable update launches a new instance with the updated application version and then terminates the old instance, providing zero downtime. This is ideal for a single-instance environment. Option A is incorrect because a rolling update with a batch size of 1 on a single instance would cause a brief downtime as the instance is updated in place. Option B (Blue/Green deployment) also achieves zero downtime but requires creating a separate environment and swapping URLs, which is more complex than necessary; the simplest solution with zero downtime is an immutable update. Option D is irrelevant because swapping an RDS database does not update the application version.

Answer

Perform a rolling update with a batch size of 1.

Answer

Perform a Blue/Green deployment by swapping environment URLs.

Answer

Update the application version and swap the RDS database.

Question 13

A SysOps administrator is troubleshooting a failed AWS CloudFormation stack creation. The stack includes an AWS::Lambda::Function resource. The error message states: 'The runtime parameter of nodejs8.10 is no longer supported.' The administrator needs to resolve this with minimal changes. What should the administrator do?

Accepted Answer

Update the CloudFormation template to use a supported Node.js runtime, such as nodejs14.x.. The error indicates that the nodejs8.10 runtime is deprecated and no longer supported. To resolve this with minimal changes, the administrator should update the CloudFormation template to use a supported Node.js runtime, such as nodejs14.x. This directly addresses the error by specifying a valid runtime for the AWS::Lambda::Function resource. Option A is incorrect because changing the language runtime (e.g., to Python) would require rewriting the Lambda function code, which is more than a minimal change. Option B is wrong because manually updating the runtime in the Lambda console after stack creation fails does not fix the underlying template issue; the stack will still fail if re-created. Option D is incorrect because AWS will not re-enable a deprecated runtime.

Answer

Modify the Lambda function code to use Python 3.8.

Answer

Manually update the runtime in the AWS Lambda console after the stack creation fails.

Answer

Wait for AWS to re-enable the nodejs8.10 runtime.

Question 14

A SysOps administrator is provisioning an Auto Scaling group (ASG) for a stateless web application. The ASG should launch EC2 instances in multiple Availability Zones. The administrator needs to ensure that instances are evenly distributed across Availability Zones. Which configuration should the administrator use?

Accepted Answer

Create subnets in multiple Availability Zones and specify them in the Auto Scaling group.. By creating subnets in multiple Availability Zones and specifying them in the Auto Scaling group configuration, the ASG will automatically distribute instances evenly across the subnets, ensuring high availability. Option A is incorrect because the 'availability-zone' health check type determines how to check instance health, not the distribution of instances. Option C is incorrect because using a single subnet limits instances to one Availability Zone, failing the requirement for multi-AZ distribution. Option D is incorrect because placement groups are used for low-latency network performance, not for even distribution across AZs.

Answer

Use an 'availability-zone' health check type in the Auto Scaling group.

Answer

Create the Auto Scaling group with a single subnet in one Availability Zone.

Answer

Create subnets in multiple Availability Zones but assign them to the same placement group.

Question 15

A SysOps administrator is managing a CloudFormation stack that creates an Amazon RDS DB instance. The stack uses the 'DBInstance' resource with a 'DeletionPolicy' attribute set to 'Delete'. The administrator wants to modify the stack to retain the DB instance when the stack is deleted, but the change fails because the DB instance is in a state that does not allow modification. What is the MOST likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The DeletionPolicy attribute cannot be changed after the stack is created.. The change fails because the DeletionPolicy attribute on an existing resource cannot be modified after the stack is created. CloudFormation does not allow updating the DeletionPolicy for an existing resource; to change it, you must create a new stack or use a different resource name. Option A is incorrect because a stack in CREATE_COMPLETE state can be updated for most attributes, but DeletionPolicy is an exception. Option B is incorrect because deletion protection on the DB instance would prevent deletion, but the issue here is modifying the DeletionPolicy, not deleting the instance. Option C is incorrect because maintenance windows do not affect CloudFormation updates to the DeletionPolicy.

Answer

The stack is in a 'CREATE_COMPLETE' state and cannot be updated.

Answer

The DB instance has deletion protection enabled.

Answer

The DB instance is in a maintenance window that prevents modifications.