- A
AWS CloudFormation
Correct. AWS CloudFormation lets you define your entire infrastructure as code in templates, enabling repeatable and version-controlled provisioning of resources like EC2, ALB, and RDS.
- B
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Why wrong: Incorrect. Elastic Beanstalk is a PaaS service that automates application deployment and provisioning, but it abstracts the infrastructure and does not offer the same infrastructure-as-code flexibility or version control of the exact resource definitions.
- C
AWS OpsWorks
Why wrong: Incorrect. OpsWorks is a configuration management service using Chef/Puppet, focused on server configuration rather than declaratively provisioning a full set of resources across different AWS services.
- D
AWS CodeDeploy
Why wrong: Incorrect. CodeDeploy automates code deployments to existing compute instances, but it does not provision or manage the underlying infrastructure resources.
CLF-C02 Cloud Technology and Services Practice Question
This CLF-C02 practice question tests your understanding of cloud technology and services. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company plans to deploy a multi-tier web application on AWS. The architecture includes Amazon EC2 instances for the web and application tiers, an Application Load Balancer for traffic distribution, and an Amazon RDS database for the data tier. The company wants to automate the provisioning and configuration of all these AWS resources in a repeatable and predictable manner. The solution should allow the infrastructure definition to be stored in a version control system and be used to create identical environments for development, testing, and production with minimal manual effort. Which AWS service should the company use to define and manage the infrastructure as code?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
AWS CloudFormation
AWS CloudFormation is the correct service because it enables you to define your entire multi-tier infrastructure—EC2 instances, Application Load Balancer, and RDS database—as a declarative JSON or YAML template. This template can be stored in a version control system and used to provision identical environments across development, testing, and production with a single API call, ensuring repeatability and predictability.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
AWS CloudFormation
Why this is correct
Correct. AWS CloudFormation lets you define your entire infrastructure as code in templates, enabling repeatable and version-controlled provisioning of resources like EC2, ALB, and RDS.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Elastic Beanstalk is a PaaS service that automates application deployment and provisioning, but it abstracts the infrastructure and does not offer the same infrastructure-as-code flexibility or version control of the exact resource definitions.
- ✗
AWS OpsWorks
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. OpsWorks is a configuration management service using Chef/Puppet, focused on server configuration rather than declaratively provisioning a full set of resources across different AWS services.
- ✗
AWS CodeDeploy
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. CodeDeploy automates code deployments to existing compute instances, but it does not provision or manage the underlying infrastructure resources.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse AWS Elastic Beanstalk's ease-of-use with infrastructure-as-code, but Elastic Beanstalk manages the environment as a black box and does not allow you to version-control the individual resource definitions in a reusable template like CloudFormation does.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
CloudFormation templates use a declarative model where you define resources with properties (e.g., AWS::EC2::Instance, AWS::ElasticLoadBalancingV2::LoadBalancer, AWS::RDS::DBInstance) and CloudFormation handles the order of creation, dependencies, and rollback on failure. A key subtlety is that CloudFormation stacks can be nested and use change sets to preview modifications before execution, which is critical for production environments where unintended changes must be avoided.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Cloud Technology and Services — This question tests Cloud Technology and Services — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: AWS CloudFormation — AWS CloudFormation is the correct service because it enables you to define your entire multi-tier infrastructure—EC2 instances, Application Load Balancer, and RDS database—as a declarative JSON or YAML template. This template can be stored in a version control system and used to provision identical environments across development, testing, and production with a single API call, ensuring repeatability and predictability.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This CLF-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CLF-C02 exam.
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