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 uses AWS CodePipeline to automate deployments. The pipeline has a source stage that pulls from Amazon S3, a build stage using AWS CodeBuild, and a deploy stage using AWS CloudFormation. The deploy stage often fails because CloudFormation change sets are not being created. 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 CloudFormation deploy action is configured to use the 'CREATE_AND_EXECUTE' change set mode, but the stack does not exist yet.
Option B is correct because when a CloudFormation deploy action in CodePipeline is configured with the 'CREATE_AND_EXECUTE' change set mode, it requires the stack to already exist. If the stack does not exist, CloudFormation cannot create a change set (since change sets compare changes against an existing stack), causing the deploy stage to fail. This is a common misconfiguration when deploying a new stack for the first time via CodePipeline.
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 CodeBuild project is not producing the expected output artifacts.
Why it's wrong here
This would cause the deploy stage to receive wrong input, but not specifically change set creation failure.
✓
The CloudFormation deploy action is configured to use the 'CREATE_AND_EXECUTE' change set mode, but the stack does not exist yet.
Why this is correct
If the stack does not exist, the action should be configured to create a stack directly.
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 CloudFormation service role is missing.
Why it's wrong here
A missing role would cause a permission error, not a change set creation failure.
✗
The source stage is not configured to detect changes in the S3 bucket.
Why it's wrong here
This would prevent the pipeline from triggering, not cause the deploy stage to fail.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often assume 'CREATE_AND_EXECUTE' works for both new and existing stacks, but it only works for existing stacks because change sets require a current stack to diff against.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
CloudFormation change sets are a diff mechanism that compares a proposed template/parameter change against the current stack state; they cannot be created for a non-existent stack because there is no current state to compare against. In CodePipeline, the 'CREATE_AND_EXECUTE' mode first creates a change set and then executes it, but if the stack is new, you must use 'CREATE_UPDATE' (which directly creates or updates the stack) or first create the stack manually. A real-world scenario is deploying a new environment (e.g., dev, staging) via a pipeline that was originally designed for updates, causing the first deployment to fail until the mode is changed.
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 CloudFormation deploy action is configured to use the 'CREATE_AND_EXECUTE' change set mode, but the stack does not exist yet. — Option B is correct because when a CloudFormation deploy action in CodePipeline is configured with the 'CREATE_AND_EXECUTE' change set mode, it requires the stack to already exist. If the stack does not exist, CloudFormation cannot create a change set (since change sets compare changes against an existing stack), causing the deploy stage to fail. This is a common misconfiguration when deploying a new stack for the first time via CodePipeline.
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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