This DVA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of deployment. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 is deploying a new microservice using AWS CodeDeploy. The deployment group uses an EC2/On-Premises compute platform with an in-place deployment configuration. After the deployment, the new application version is not receiving traffic. The previous version continues to serve requests. What is the most likely cause?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The deployment group is not associated with a load balancer or target group.
In an in-place deployment with CodeDeploy on the EC2/On-Premises compute platform, traffic is routed to the new application version by a load balancer. If the deployment group is not associated with a load balancer or target group, CodeDeploy cannot register the instances or shift traffic to the new version, so the previous version continues serving requests. The deployment itself may succeed, but without the load balancer integration, the new application revision never receives incoming traffic.
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.
✗
The application revision is not stored in the correct S3 bucket.
Why it's wrong here
The revision location is specified in the deployment, and CodeDeploy fetches it.
✗
The deployment configuration is set to CodeDeployDefault.OneAtATime.
Why it's wrong here
This affects the pace, not traffic routing.
✓
The deployment group is not associated with a load balancer or target group.
Why this is correct
Without a target group, the load balancer does not route traffic to the new instances.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The CodeDeploy agent is not installed on the EC2 instances.
Why it's wrong here
This would cause the deployment to fail, but the deployment succeeded.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume a successful deployment automatically means the new version is serving traffic, but without a load balancer association, CodeDeploy cannot manage traffic routing, leaving the old version active.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
When a deployment group is associated with an Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) or Application Load Balancer (ALB), CodeDeploy uses the deregistration and registration hooks to manage traffic flow. During an in-place deployment, CodeDeploy deregisters instances from the target group, deploys the new revision, runs validation hooks, and then re-registers the instances to resume traffic. Without this association, CodeDeploy has no mechanism to redirect traffic to the new version, so the old version remains active. This is a common misconfiguration in hybrid or legacy environments where load balancers are not used.
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.
Deployment — This question tests Deployment — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The deployment group is not associated with a load balancer or target group. — In an in-place deployment with CodeDeploy on the EC2/On-Premises compute platform, traffic is routed to the new application version by a load balancer. If the deployment group is not associated with a load balancer or target group, CodeDeploy cannot register the instances or shift traffic to the new version, so the previous version continues serving requests. The deployment itself may succeed, but without the load balancer integration, the new application revision never receives incoming traffic.
What should I do if I get this DVA-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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