SOA-C02 Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation Practice Test 18 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A SysOps administrator needs to deploy an application to a set of EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. The deployment must be performed in batches, with each batch health-checked before proceeding. Which AWS CodeDeploy deployment configuration should be used?

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

Accepted Answer

CodeDeployDefault.OneAtATime. CodeDeployDefault.OneAtATime is the correct deployment configuration because it deploys the application revision to one EC2 instance at a time, waiting for the instance to pass health checks before proceeding to the next. This ensures that the deployment is performed in batches of one, with each batch health-checked before moving on, which aligns with the requirement for batch-based, health-checked deployments.

Answer

CodeDeployDefault.AllAtOnce

Answer

CodeDeployDefault.HalfAtATime

Answer

CodeDeployDefault.Custom

Question 2

A company is using AWS CodeDeploy to deploy an application to an Auto Scaling group. The deployment fails because the instances do not have the CodeDeploy agent installed. Which THREE actions are required to resolve this issue?

Accepted Answer

Install the CodeDeploy agent on the instances using user data in the launch configuration.. Specifying the CodeDeploy agent installation script in the user data of a launch configuration ensures that any new instance launched by the Auto Scaling group automatically installs and starts the agent. This is a common practice to bootstrap instances with the required software before they register with CodeDeploy.

Answer

Change the deployment configuration to 'OneAtATime'.

Answer

Update the Auto Scaling group's launch configuration to use a different instance type.

Question 3

An organization uses AWS OpsWorks for configuration management. The SysOps administrator notices that a stack's instances are not receiving the updated custom cookbooks after a new deployment. The cookbooks are stored in a private GitHub repository. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The SSH key for the Git repository is not configured in the stack.. AWS OpsWorks uses the SSH key configured in the stack to clone private Git repositories. Without a valid SSH key, the cookbook update fails silently. Option A is incorrect because cookbooks can be stored in S3 or Git; S3 is not required. Option B is incorrect because the OpsWorks agent must be running, but the symptom of a missing SSH key is specific to private repositories. Option C is incorrect while instances need internet access to reach GitHub, a missing SSH key is a more specific cause for private repos.

Answer

The cookbooks are not stored in an S3 bucket.

Answer

The OpsWorks agent is not running on the instances.

Answer

The instances do not have internet access.

Question 4

An organization uses AWS Systems Manager to manage a fleet of EC2 instances. The SysOps administrator needs to run a script on all instances that have a specific tag (Environment: Production). The script must be executed immediately and only once. Which approach should be used?

Accepted Answer

Use Run Command with a target based on the tag.. Run Command enables you to run commands on EC2 instances immediately and only once, using tags to target specific instances. Option A is incorrect because Patch Manager is designed for applying patches, not running arbitrary scripts. Option B is incorrect because Automation documents are for multi-step workflow orchestration, not simple one-time script execution. Option D is incorrect because State Manager is for recurring configurations or ensuring a desired state over time, not immediate one-time execution.

Answer

Use Patch Manager to apply the script as a patch baseline.

Answer

Create an Automation document and execute it.

Answer

Create a State Manager association with the script.

Question 5

An organization is using AWS CodeDeploy with a blue/green deployment configuration for an EC2/On-Premises compute platform. During a deployment, the new instances pass all health checks, but the old instances are not terminated after the deployment completes. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The deployment configuration specifies 'Reroute traffic to new instances and keep old instances running' with no termination.. In AWS CodeDeploy blue/green deployments for the EC2/On-Premises compute platform, the deployment configuration determines the lifecycle of the original (old) instances. Option C is correct because the deployment configuration explicitly specifies 'Reroute traffic to new instances and keep old instances running' with no termination, which instructs CodeDeploy to leave the old instances running after traffic is rerouted. This behavior is controlled by the deployment group's configuration, not by Auto Scaling or health check failures.

Answer

The Auto Scaling group has a cooldown period that prevents termination.

Answer

The new instances failed the initial health check.

Answer

The deployment was rolled back automatically.

Question 6

A SysOps administrator is implementing an automated backup solution for Amazon RDS databases. The solution must support point-in-time recovery and cross-region disaster recovery. Which TWO AWS services or features should be used?

Accepted Answer

Automated backups with a retention period.. Automated backups (Option C) enable point-in-time recovery within a specified retention period, meeting the backup requirement. Automated cross-region snapshot copy (Option E) provides cross-region disaster recovery by automatically copying snapshots to another AWS region. Manual DB snapshots (Option A) are not automated, so they do not satisfy the automation requirement. Cross-region read replicas (Option B) are designed for read scaling and do not serve as a backup solution. Amazon S3 lifecycle policies (Option D) are used for managing object storage, not for RDS backup automation.

Answer

Manual DB snapshots.

Answer

Cross-region read replicas.

Answer

Amazon S3 lifecycle policies.

Question 7

A SysOps administrator is using AWS CodeDeploy to deploy an application to an Auto Scaling group. The deployment fails with the error 'The overall deployment failed because too many individual instances failed deployment, too few healthy instances are available for deployment, or some instances in your deployment group are experiencing problems.' The deployment group has a minimum of 2 healthy instances. What should the administrator check FIRST?

Accepted Answer

The ApplicationStop lifecycle event hook script in the AppSpec file. The ApplicationStop lifecycle event hook script in the AppSpec file often fails with a non-zero exit code, causing the deployment to fail with this error. The error indicates that too many instances failed or are unhealthy, and the most common cause is a faulty script. Option A is incorrect because the CodeDeploy agent version is not the first thing to check; the error is about instance failures during deployment, not agent issues. Option B is incorrect because the Auto Scaling group's minimum size is already set to 2, and the error is not about group size but about individual instance health. Option C is incorrect because a load balancer health check configuration problem would result in a different error related to health check failures, not the specific message about instance deployment failures.

Answer

The CodeDeploy agent version on the instances

Answer

The Auto Scaling group's minimum size

Answer

The load balancer health check configuration

Question 8

An administrator is using AWS CodePipeline to deploy a web application. The pipeline includes a build stage using AWS CodeBuild and a deploy stage using AWS Elastic Beanstalk. The build succeeds, but the deployment fails with 'Access Denied' when Elastic Beanstalk tries to read the artifact from S3. What should the administrator check?

Accepted Answer

The IAM role assumed by the Elastic Beanstalk environment. The Elastic Beanstalk environment's IAM service role must have permissions to read the artifact from the S3 bucket. If this role lacks the necessary s3:GetObject permission, the deployment fails with 'Access Denied'. Option B is incorrect because the CodeBuild role handles build tasks, not deployment actions. Option C is incorrect because CodePipeline can manage cross-region artifacts; the region mismatch is unlikely to cause an access-denied error. Option D is incorrect because the artifact bucket is managed by CodePipeline and its bucket policy is typically configured correctly; the issue is more likely with the Elastic Beanstalk service role's permissions.

Answer

The IAM role used by CodeBuild

Answer

Whether the artifact bucket is in the same region as the pipeline

Answer

The S3 bucket policy for the artifact bucket

Question 9

A SysOps administrator is creating an AWS CloudFormation template to deploy a web application. The template will create an Application Load Balancer (ALB), an Auto Scaling group, and an Amazon RDS database. The administrator wants to ensure that the Auto Scaling group is created only after the ALB and the RDS database are fully created and available. Which TWO actions should the administrator take? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Add a DependsOn attribute to the Auto Scaling group resource that lists both the ALB and the RDS database resources.. To ensure the Auto Scaling group is created only after both the ALB and RDS database are fully available, the administrator should add a DependsOn attribute to the Auto Scaling group that lists both the ALB and RDS resources (Option B). This ensures CloudFormation creates the group after those resources. Additionally, a CreationPolicy on the RDS database resource (Option D) can be used to wait for a signal (e.g., from a cfn-signal script) indicating that the database is fully operational and accepting connections, ensuring it is 'fully available' before the Auto Scaling group creation proceeds. Option A is incorrect because it only lists the ALB, ignoring RDS. Option C is irrelevant for creation order. Option E addresses instance signaling, not resource creation.

Answer

Add a DependsOn attribute to the Auto Scaling group resource that lists only the ALB resource.

Answer

Add an UpdatePolicy to the Auto Scaling group resource to wait for a signal.

Answer

Add a CreationPolicy to the Auto Scaling group resource to wait for a signal from the instances.

Question 10

A company uses AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy a web application. The application requires a custom Amazon Linux 2 AMI with specific security agents installed. The company wants to ensure that all environment instances use this custom AMI. Which combination of steps should be taken? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Create a custom AMI using the Elastic Beanstalk platform as the base.. To ensure all environment instances use a custom AMI with specific security agents, you must create the custom AMI from the Elastic Beanstalk platform (C) to maintain compatibility. Then configure the .ebextensions folder to set the AMI ID in the Auto Scaling launch configuration using the aws:autoscaling:launchconfiguration namespace (D). Option A is incorrect because the AMI ID is set in the environment configuration, not a CloudFormation template. Option B is incorrect because CodeDeploy deploys application code, not the AMI itself. Option E is incorrect because while Packer can be used to create AMIs, it is not required; the custom AMI must be based on the Elastic Beanstalk platform, not any base image.

Answer

Set the AMI ID in a CloudFormation template and associate it with the environment.

Answer

Use AWS CodeDeploy to deploy the application to the custom AMI.

Answer

Use Packer to create the custom AMI from any base image.

Question 11

A company is using AWS CodePipeline to automate their CI/CD pipeline. The pipeline includes a deployment stage that uses AWS CloudFormation to deploy infrastructure. The company wants to add a manual approval step before the CloudFormation deployment. How should this be configured?

Accepted Answer

Add a manual approval action in the pipeline before the CloudFormation deployment stage.. AWS CodePipeline has a built-in approval action that pauses the pipeline at a specified stage until a manual approval is granted. This allows a human to review and approve before the CloudFormation deployment proceeds. Option A is wrong because a CloudFormation change set action creates a change set for review but does not pause the pipeline; the pipeline continues unless manually stopped separately. Option B is wrong because Amazon SNS alone sends notifications but does not pause the pipeline; you would need an approval action to block execution. Option D is wrong because an AWS Lambda function cannot block the pipeline; it can notify but the pipeline will continue unless an approval action is used.

Answer

Add a CloudFormation change set action before the deployment.

Answer

Configure an Amazon SNS topic to send a notification and require a confirmation.

Answer

Use an AWS Lambda function to send an email and wait for a response.

Question 12

An organization is using AWS CloudFormation to manage its infrastructure. The SysOps administrator wants to update a stack that includes an Amazon RDS DB instance. The update requires changing the DB instance class. However, the administrator wants to minimize downtime. What should the administrator do?

Accepted Answer

Enable Multi-AZ on the DB instance (if not already enabled) before performing the stack update.. Enabling Multi-AZ allows the RDS instance to have a standby in a different Availability Zone. When updating the DB instance class, CloudFormation can modify the standby first, then fail over to it, minimizing downtime. Options A, C, and D are incorrect: A (DeletionPolicy) controls resource retention on stack deletion, not updates; C (ApplyImmediately) may cause a brief outage; D (read replica promotion) is for scaling reads, not for minimizing downtime during instance class changes.

Answer

Use CloudFormation's 'DeletionPolicy' attribute to retain the database during updates.

Answer

Update the stack directly with 'ApplyImmediately' set to true.

Answer

Create a read replica, promote it, and then delete the original DB instance.

Question 13

A company has a legacy application that runs on a single Amazon EC2 instance. The SysOps administrator is tasked with migrating the application to an Auto Scaling group behind an Application Load Balancer to improve availability. The application stores session state locally on the instance. What should the administrator do to ensure a seamless migration with minimal changes to the application code?

Accepted Answer

Use Amazon ElastiCache for Redis to store session data externally.. Using Amazon ElastiCache for Redis to store session data externally allows the application to be stateless, enabling seamless scaling across multiple EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. This approach requires minimal code changes (typically just configuring the application to use a Redis endpoint instead of local storage) and ensures session data is not lost if an instance fails. Option A (sticky sessions) is a workaround but does not eliminate the dependency on local storage; sessions are still lost if an instance fails. Option B (disabling local session storage) does not solve the problem because the application still needs persistent session storage. Option D (using RDS) is possible but is not the best choice for session data because relational databases are typically slower for session caching and require more significant code and schema changes compared to Redis, which is an in-memory data store optimized for session management.

Answer

Configure the Application Load Balancer with sticky sessions (session affinity).

Answer

Disable the feature that stores session state locally.

Answer

Modify the application to store session data in an Amazon RDS database.

Question 14

A company is deploying a new web application using AWS Elastic Beanstalk. The application requires a custom Amazon Machine Image (AMI) with specific software pre-installed. The SysOps administrator creates a custom AMI and configures Elastic Beanstalk to use it. However, during deployment, the instances fail to pass the health check. The health check endpoint is a simple 'index.html' file. What is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The custom AMI does not have a web server installed and configured to serve the application.. Elastic Beanstalk expects the web server (e.g., Apache, Nginx) to be installed and configured to serve the application. If the custom AMI does not have a web server installed, the health check endpoint will not respond. Option A is incorrect because the environment URL is created regardless of the AMI. Option C is incorrect because Elastic Beanstalk does not require a specific AMI ID; it uses the one provided. Option D is incorrect because the health check is based on HTTP response, not instance status checks.

Answer

The Elastic Beanstalk environment was created before the custom AMI was registered.

Answer

The custom AMI is not registered with the same account that owns the Elastic Beanstalk environment.

Answer

The custom AMI does not have the latest patches, causing the instance to fail the EC2 status checks.

Question 15

An organization uses AWS Service Catalog to manage approved IT services. A SysOps administrator needs to update a CloudFormation template used by a product. The administrator wants to ensure that existing provisioned products are updated with the new template version. What step must the administrator take after updating the product?

Accepted Answer

Create a new product version and update the provisioned products to use the new version.. To update existing provisioned products, you must create a new product version and update the provisioned product to that version. Simply updating the template directly or modifying the portfolio does not automatically propagate changes to provisioned products.

Answer

Update the portfolio that contains the product.

Answer

Update the product's CloudFormation template directly in the Service Catalog console.

Answer

Terminate the existing provisioned products and reprovision them.