SOA-C02 Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation Practice Test 9 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company 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'. The SysOps administrator checks the deployment logs and finds that the BeforeInstall lifecycle event script is failing on some instances. The instances are Amazon Linux 2. What should the administrator do to troubleshoot this issue?

Accepted Answer

Review the BeforeInstall script's output and exit code in the deployment logs or on the instance.. The BeforeInstall script is failing; checking the script's exit code and logs on the instance is the correct approach. Option A is wrong because the appspec.yml file is likely fine if it runs the script. Option B is wrong because the issue is script execution, not agent connectivity. Option D is wrong because the issue is not about configuration file format.

Answer

Verify that the CodeDeploy agent on the instances is running and can communicate with the CodeDeploy service.

Answer

Ensure that the CodeDeploy deployment configuration is set to 'OneAtATime' to reduce instance failures.

Answer

Check the appspec.yml file for syntax errors in the hooks section.

Question 2

A company has a CloudFormation stack that creates an Amazon EC2 instance with a user data script that installs software from the internet. The stack creation is failing with a timeout. The SysOps administrator suspects that the user data script is taking too long or failing. How can the administrator configure the stack to wait for the user data script to complete successfully before marking the instance as CREATE_COMPLETE?

Accepted Answer

Add a CreationPolicy with a resource signal to the EC2 instance resource and have the user data script send a success signal using cfn-signal.. Use a CreationPolicy with a resource signal on the EC2 instance. The user data script must send a success signal (e.g., via cfn-signal) to CloudFormation. Option B is wrong because WaitCondition is used for external signals but requires a separate wait handle. Option C is wrong because UpdatePolicy is for updates, not creation. Option D is wrong because DependsOn only waits for resource creation, not for user data completion.

Answer

Add a DependsOn attribute to the EC2 instance resource to wait for another resource.

Answer

Add an UpdatePolicy with a resource signal to the EC2 instance resource.

Answer

Add a WaitCondition resource and a WaitHandle, and have the user data script send a signal to the WaitHandle.

Question 3

A SysOps administrator needs to deploy a new version of an application that runs on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. The deployment should minimize downtime and roll back automatically if health checks fail. Which deployment method should the administrator use?

Accepted Answer

Blue/green deployment using a new Auto Scaling group and an Application Load Balancer. Blue/green deployment with an Auto Scaling group and an Application Load Balancer allows switching traffic to the new version and rolling back if health checks fail. Option A is wrong because in-place deployments update existing instances and can cause downtime. Option C is wrong because rolling update is an in-place method. Option D is wrong because canary deployment is a type of blue/green but typically used for canary testing, not automatic rollback based on health checks.

Answer

Canary deployment

Answer

Rolling update via an Auto Scaling group

Answer

In-place deployment

Question 4

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.. DependsOn ensures the order of resource creation. For the Auto Scaling group to wait for both the ALB and RDS, it must list both as dependencies. Additionally, a CreationPolicy on the RDS instance can be used to signal when it is fully available (e.g., after the database is created and ready). However, the question asks for two actions; the most direct are using DependsOn on the Auto Scaling group for both resources, and also possibly using a CreationPolicy on the RDS to ensure it is truly available, but since the question says 'fully created and available', the best two are: (1) Add a DependsOn attribute to the Auto Scaling group resource listing both the ALB and RDS resources. (2) Add a CreationPolicy to the RDS instance resource to wait for a signal that indicates it is available. Option A is incomplete. Option B is correct because DependsOn with both resources ensures creation order. Option C is also correct because CreationPolicy on RDS ensures it signals readiness. Note: The question may have a different intended answer; but based on typical exam, DependsOn and CreationPolicy are the standard ways.

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 5

A company is using AWS Elastic Beanstalk to manage a web application. The SysOps administrator needs to update the application to a new version with zero downtime. Which THREE steps should the administrator take to achieve this? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Create a new Elastic Beanstalk environment with the new application version, then swap the environment URLs.. To achieve zero downtime with Elastic Beanstalk, the administrator should use a blue/green deployment or rolling update with a batch size of 1 and pause. Option A is correct because creating a new environment and swapping URLs is blue/green, which provides zero downtime. Option C is correct because rolling updates with a batch size of 1 ensure only one instance is replaced at a time, minimizing impact. Option E is correct because setting a health check grace period prevents premature termination. Option B is wrong because terminating instances causes downtime. Option D is wrong because increasing the load balancer's health check interval to 300 seconds would cause longer delays in detecting healthy instances, potentially causing issues.

Answer

Terminate all existing instances and replace them with new ones.

Answer

Set the load balancer's health check interval to 300 seconds to allow more time for the new instances to become healthy.

Question 6

A company is using AWS CloudFormation to manage its infrastructure. The SysOps administrator wants to update a stack that includes an Amazon RDS database. The administrator needs to modify the DB instance class but wants to avoid downtime. Which TWO options should the administrator consider? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Apply the change during the RDS maintenance window to control when the modification occurs.. Option A is correct because a Multi-AZ deployment allows modifications with minimal downtime by applying the change to the standby first. Option B is correct because applying the change during a maintenance window can also reduce impact. Option C is wrong because deleting and recreating causes downtime. Option D is wrong because using a snapshot does not help with modifying the instance class. Option E is wrong because setting DeletionPolicy to Retain does not affect updates.

Answer

Set the DeletionPolicy attribute to Retain on the RDS instance.

Answer

Delete the current RDS instance and create a new one with the desired instance class.

Answer

Take a snapshot of the database and restore it with the new instance class.

Question 7

A company wants to automatically start and stop an EC2 instance on a schedule to reduce costs. The instance runs a critical application that must be available from 8 AM to 6 PM weekdays. Which AWS service should be used to implement this scheduling?

Accepted Answer

AWS Instance Scheduler. Option C is correct because AWS Instance Scheduler is a solution that allows you to configure start and stop schedules for EC2 and RDS instances. Option A is wrong because Systems Manager Automation is for automating maintenance tasks, not scheduling instance start/stop. Option B is wrong because OpsWorks is for configuration management. Option D is wrong because CloudFormation is for infrastructure as code, not scheduling.

Answer

AWS OpsWorks

Answer

AWS Systems Manager Automation

Answer

AWS CloudFormation

Question 8

A DevOps engineer is troubleshooting a failed CloudFormation stack update. The stack includes an Auto Scaling group with a launch template. The update changed the AMI ID in the launch template, but the new instances launched with the old AMI. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The Auto Scaling group is not configured to perform a rolling update.. Option B is correct because updating the launch template does not affect existing instances; a rolling update is required. Option A is wrong because even if the launch template is updated, new instances will still use the old AMI until the Auto Scaling group triggers a replacement. Option C is wrong because the issue is not the AMI ID itself. Option D is wrong because CloudFormation does not automatically perform rolling updates unless specified.

Answer

The new AMI ID is invalid or not available in the region.

Answer

The CloudFormation stack update did not successfully complete.

Answer

The launch template version is not set to use the latest version.

Question 9

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.. Option A and D are correct. A custom AMI must be created and used in a launch template or configuration. The .ebextensions folder can configure the platform to use the custom AMI via the aws:autoscaling:launchconfiguration namespace. Option B is wrong because Packer can be used to create the AMI, but it is not a required step. Option C is wrong because the AMI must be built from the base Elastic Beanstalk platform to ensure compatibility. Option E is wrong because the AMI ID is set in the environment configuration, not in a CloudFormation template.

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 10

A company needs to deploy a new version of a Lambda function. The deployment must be gradual, shifting 10% of traffic to the new version every 10 minutes until all traffic is served by the new version. If errors occur, the deployment should roll back immediately. Which deployment strategy should be used?

Accepted Answer

Canary deployment with AWS Lambda. Option C is correct because Lambda canary deployments allow specifying traffic shifting and automatic rollback. Option A is wrong because blue/green is not natively supported for Lambda without additional services. Option B is wrong because rolling is for EC2/ECS. Option D is wrong because all-at-once is immediate, not gradual.

Answer

Blue/green deployment with AWS CodeDeploy

Answer

All-at-once deployment

Answer

Rolling deployment with Amazon ECS

Question 11

A company uses AWS CloudFormation to manage infrastructure. They have a stack that creates an Amazon RDS DB instance. The database is in a VPC with public and private subnets. The DB instance is in a private subnet. When the stack is created, the DB instance is not accessible from an EC2 instance in the same VPC. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The security group for the DB instance does not allow inbound traffic from the EC2 instance.. Option D is correct because the DB instance's security group must allow inbound traffic from the EC2 instance's security group. Option A is wrong because the DB instance is in a private subnet, so it doesn't have a public IP. Option B is wrong because the DB subnet group is configured correctly. Option C is wrong because the VPC has a route to the internet, but that's not needed for internal communication.

Answer

The DB subnet group does not include the correct subnets.

Answer

The VPC does not have an internet gateway attached.

Answer

The DB instance does not have a public IP address.

Question 12

A company uses AWS OpsWorks to manage a stack of web servers. They need to deploy a configuration change that updates the /etc/nginx/nginx.conf file on all instances. Which OpsWorks feature should be used?

Accepted Answer

Custom Chef recipes. Option A is correct because Chef recipes are used to configure instances. Option B is wrong because custom cookbooks can be used, but recipes are the specific unit. Option C is wrong because lifecycle events trigger recipes. Option D is wrong because layers group instances, but do not deploy configurations.

Answer

OpsWorks layers

Answer

Lifecycle events

Answer

Custom cookbooks

Question 13

An administrator uses AWS CodeDeploy to deploy an application to an Auto Scaling group. The deployment fails with an 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 instances. What should the administrator check first?

Accepted Answer

The deployment logs on the individual EC2 instances.. Option D is correct because the deployment logs on the instances will show specific failure reasons. Option A is wrong because the issue is not necessarily the deployment group configuration. Option B is wrong because the Auto Scaling group health checks are for instance health, not deployment success. Option C is wrong because the application revision might be valid for other environments.

Answer

The application revision's compatibility with the instance operating system.

Answer

The Auto Scaling group's health check settings.

Answer

The deployment group's deployment configuration settings.

Question 14

A company uses AWS CloudFormation to deploy a stack that includes an Amazon S3 bucket. The stack creation fails because the S3 bucket name already exists. What should the administrator do to resolve this issue?

Accepted Answer

Change the S3 bucket name in the CloudFormation template to a unique name.. Option B is correct because S3 bucket names must be globally unique, so using a different name resolves the conflict. Option A is wrong because deleting the bucket is not viable if it's in use. Option C is wrong because policies do not affect bucket name uniqueness. Option D is wrong because tags do not affect bucket names.

Answer

Add a tag to the existing bucket to make it available for the stack.

Answer

Delete the existing S3 bucket and recreate the stack.

Answer

Update the bucket policy to allow the stack to use the bucket.

Question 15

A company uses AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy a web application. The application uses an Amazon RDS database. The company wants to ensure that database credentials are not hard-coded in the application code. Which approach should be used?

Accepted Answer

Use Elastic Beanstalk environment properties to pass the credentials, referencing them from AWS Secrets Manager.. Option D is correct because Elastic Beanstalk can pass environment properties to the application, and these can be stored securely using AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store or Secrets Manager. Option A is wrong because storing in the source code is not secure. Option B is wrong because storing in S3 requires access management and is not best practice. Option C is wrong because EC2 user data is not encrypted and is visible in the console.

Answer

Pass the credentials via EC2 user data when the instance launches.

Answer

Store the credentials in a configuration file in the application source code.

Answer

Store the credentials in an S3 bucket and retrieve them at runtime.