SOA-C02 Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation Practice Test 16 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company uses AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy a Node.js application. The application requires a specific version of Node.js that is not the default version provided by the Elastic Beanstalk platform. How can the administrator ensure that the correct Node.js version is installed on the environment's EC2 instances?

Accepted Answer

Include a configuration file in the .ebextensions folder that specifies the desired Node.js version.. Elastic Beanstalk allows customization via configuration files in the .ebextensions folder. Option A is correct. Option B is wrong because the environment properties are for environment variables, not platform settings. Option C is wrong because you cannot change the platform version after environment creation; you would need to create a new environment. Option D is wrong because the AWS CLI is not used for instance-level configuration.

Answer

Use the AWS CLI to run a command on each instance to install the desired Node.js version.

Answer

Use the Elastic Beanstalk console to change the platform version after the environment is created.

Answer

Set an environment property 'NODE_VERSION' to the desired version.

Question 2

A company has a production AWS CloudFormation stack that creates an Amazon EC2 instance with an AWS Systems Manager Association to install software. The stack creation succeeds, but the association does not apply to the instance. The instance is in a private subnet with a VPC endpoint for Systems Manager. What is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The SSM Agent is not installed or is not running on the EC2 instance.. The association is created at stack creation, but if the instance does not have the SSM Agent installed and running, the association will not apply. Option A is correct. Option B is wrong because the VPC endpoint is configured. Option C is wrong because the instance profile is not directly related to the association application. Option D is wrong because the Systems Manager automation document is not needed for state manager associations.

Answer

The VPC endpoint for Systems Manager is not in the same subnet as the instance.

Answer

The instance does not have an IAM instance profile that allows Systems Manager actions.

Answer

The association uses an Automation document that requires a different type of instance.

Question 3

A company uses AWS CodeDeploy to deploy an application to an Auto Scaling group. The deployment fails because the target instances are not passing the health checks. The administrator reviews the CodeDeploy deployment logs and finds that the application installation succeeded but the built-in health check failed. What should the administrator do to resolve this issue?

Accepted Answer

Modify the AppSpec file to include a script in the 'Validate Service' lifecycle event that performs a custom health check.. The Validate Service lifecycle hook is used to run health checks after installation. Option B is correct. Option A is wrong because the ApplicationStop hook runs before installation. Option C is wrong because AfterInstall runs before validation. Option D is wrong because the AppSpec file is not used to skip health checks.

Answer

Modify the AppSpec file to set the 'healthCheckGracePeriod' to a higher value.

Answer

Modify the AppSpec file to include a script in the 'AfterInstall' lifecycle event that restarts the web server.

Answer

Modify the AppSpec file to run a script in the 'ApplicationStop' lifecycle event.

Question 4

A SysOps administrator needs to automate the creation of an Amazon S3 bucket with versioning enabled and default encryption using AWS CloudFormation. Which CloudFormation resource type should the administrator use?

Accepted Answer

AWS::S3::Bucket. AWS::S3::Bucket is the resource type for creating S3 buckets. Option B is correct. Option A is wrong because AWS::S3::BucketPolicy is for bucket policies. Option C is wrong because AWS::S3::BucketVersioning is not a valid resource type; versioning is a property of AWS::S3::Bucket. Option D is wrong because AWS::KMS::Key is for KMS keys, not S3 buckets.

Answer

AWS::S3::BucketPolicy

Answer

AWS::KMS::Key

Answer

AWS::S3::BucketVersioning

Question 5

A company uses AWS OpsWorks for Chef Automate to manage its EC2 instances. The administrator needs to deploy a new cookbook to all instances in a stack. The cookbook is stored in an S3 bucket. What is the MOST efficient way to deploy the cookbook to the instances?

Accepted Answer

Configure the OpsWorks stack to use the S3 bucket as the custom cookbook source and run the 'Update Custom Cookbooks' stack command.. OpsWorks can automatically update cookbooks from a custom cookbook source (e.g., S3) by configuring the stack to use that source. Option A is correct. Option B is wrong because manual upload is inefficient. Option C is wrong because the stack settings can automatically retrieve the cookbook without a separate lifecycle event. Option D is wrong because Chef Server is not used in OpsWorks Chef Automate; it uses Chef Automate server.

Answer

Upload the cookbook to the Chef Server and have the instances pull from there.

Answer

SSH into each instance and manually download the cookbook from S3.

Answer

Configure a lifecycle event in the OpsWorks layer to run a script that downloads the cookbook from S3.

Question 6

A company uses AWS CloudFormation to deploy a stack that includes an Amazon RDS DB instance. The administrator wants to ensure that the DB instance is not deleted when the stack is deleted. Which property should the administrator set in the CloudFormation template?

Accepted Answer

DeletionPolicy: Retain. The DeletionPolicy attribute with value 'Retain' ensures the resource is retained after stack deletion. Option C is correct. Option A is wrong because 'Snapshot' creates a final snapshot but still deletes the instance. Option B is wrong because 'Delete' is the default behavior. Option D is wrong because 'Replace' is not a valid DeletionPolicy.

Answer

DeletionPolicy: Delete

Answer

DeletionPolicy: Snapshot

Answer

DeletionPolicy: Replace

Question 7

A company uses AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy a Python web application. The administrator needs to update the environment's configuration to use a larger instance type. What is the correct way to perform this update with minimal downtime?

Accepted Answer

Use the Elastic Beanstalk console to change the instance type and select a rolling update policy.. Elastic Beanstalk supports rolling updates to change instance types without downtime. Option D is correct. Option A is wrong because terminating instances causes downtime. Option B is wrong because you cannot change the instance type in an existing environment's configuration without a rolling update. Option C is wrong because creating a new environment is more disruptive than a rolling update.

Answer

Create a new Elastic Beanstalk environment with the larger instance type and swap the environment URLs.

Answer

Use the Elastic Beanstalk console to change the instance type and apply the change immediately.

Answer

Terminate all instances and launch new ones with the larger instance type.

Question 8

A SysOps administrator is deploying a critical application using AWS CloudFormation. The stack must be updated frequently. Which TWO strategies should the administrator use to minimize the risk of update failures? (Choose TWO.)

Accepted Answer

Use change sets to review the impact of changes before applying them.. Stack policies and change sets help manage updates safely. Options B and D are correct. Option A is wrong because disabling rollback on failure is risky; it leaves the stack in a failed state. Option C is wrong because using the AWS CLI does not inherently reduce risk. Option E is wrong because manual approval is not a feature of CloudFormation directly.

Answer

Disable rollback on failure to avoid stack deletion.

Answer

Always use the AWS CLI to perform updates instead of the console.

Answer

Manually approve each resource update through the console.

Question 9

A company deploys microservices on Amazon ECS using Fargate. The deployment is managed by AWS CodePipeline. The administrator notices that deployments sometimes fail because the new task definition is not registered before the deployment. Which THREE steps should the administrator take to resolve this issue? (Choose THREE.)

Accepted Answer

Ensure that the task definition is registered in the CodePipeline build stage before the deploy stage.. The issue is that the task definition must be registered before the ECS service update. Options A, D, and E are correct. Option B is wrong because the task definition is not stored in ECR; ECR stores container images. Option C is wrong because the ECS service update is triggered by CodePipeline, not manually.

Answer

Manually update the ECS service with the new task definition after the pipeline runs.

Answer

Store the task definition in Amazon ECR alongside the container image.

Question 10

An administrator is using AWS CloudFormation to create a stack that includes an Auto Scaling group and a launch template. The launch template specifies an AMI ID. Which TWO changes to the launch template will trigger an update to the Auto Scaling group? (Choose TWO.)

Accepted Answer

Changing the instance type.. Changing the AMI ID or the instance type will trigger an update because they affect the instances launched. Options A and B are correct. Option C is wrong because tag changes do not trigger a replacement. Option D is wrong because the security group is part of the launch template but changes to it do not trigger an update of the Auto Scaling group; they update the instances. Option E is wrong because the key pair does not trigger an update.

Answer

Modifying the security group IDs.

Answer

Changing the key pair name.

Answer

Adding a new tag to the launch template.

Question 11

A SysOps administrator is tasked with automating the deployment of an application across multiple AWS accounts. Which AWS service should be used to orchestrate the deployment across accounts?

Accepted Answer

AWS CloudFormation StackSets. Option B is correct because AWS CloudFormation StackSets allows you to deploy CloudFormation stacks across multiple accounts and regions in a single operation. Option A (CodeDeploy) is for deploying applications to EC2 or on-premises, not across accounts. Option C (Service Catalog) is for creating and managing a catalog of approved IT services, not for multi-account orchestration. Option D (Systems Manager) is for management and patching, not orchestrated cross-account deployments.

Answer

AWS CodeDeploy

Answer

AWS Service Catalog

Answer

AWS Systems Manager

Question 12

A company uses AWS CloudFormation to deploy infrastructure. The administrator needs to update a stack that includes an Amazon RDS DB instance. The update requires replacing the DB instance with a new one. What is the most efficient way to achieve this with minimal downtime?

Accepted Answer

Use CloudFormation's UpdateReplace policy by modifying a property that requires replacement, such as DBInstanceClass, and take a snapshot before update.. Option C is correct. Using CloudFormation's UpdateReplace policy with a snapshot creation and then updating the stack with a new DB instance, then updating DNS to point to the new instance, minimizes downtime. Option A would cause downtime during creation. Option B (DeletionPolicy Retain) would not create a new instance. Option D (custom resource) is overly complex.

Answer

Modify the stack template to change the DB instance identifier and update the stack.

Answer

Use a custom resource to create a new DB instance and delete the old one.

Answer

Delete the stack and create a new one with the updated DB instance.

Question 13

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?

Accepted Answer

Create a target tracking scaling policy that uses the custom metric as a target.. Option D is correct. A target tracking scaling policy can be configured to use a custom CloudWatch metric, which simplifies management and maintains a target value. Option A (simple scaling policy) would require manual thresholds and is less responsive. Option B (step scaling) is possible but more complex. Option C (scheduled scaling) is not appropriate for dynamic changes.

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 14

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 B and D are correct. Using a Systems Manager patch baseline with the AWS-RunPatchBaseline document in a CloudFormation creation policy allows patching at launch. Alternatively, using a custom AMI that already includes the latest patches ensures the instance is patched from the start. Option A (user data script) might not run before the instance becomes available. Option C (AWS Config rules) is for compliance, not patching during deployment. Option E (CodeDeploy) is for application deployment, not OS patching.

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 15

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, C, and E are correct. Configuring the Auto Scaling group with a scheduled scaling policy to increase capacity during business hours and decrease at night optimizes cost. Enabling enhanced health reporting provides better insights. Setting up CloudWatch alarms to trigger scaling based on response time ensures performance during unexpected spikes. Option B (launch template) is not needed for scaling. Option D (multiple environments) may increase costs.

Answer

Use a launch template to define instance configuration.

Answer

Deploy the application in multiple Elastic Beanstalk environments.