DVA-C02 Deployment Practice Question
A company uses AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy a web application. The developer has updated the application code and wants to deploy the new version with a rolling deployment strategy to minimize downtime. Which configuration should the developer use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse 'Rolling' with 'Blue/green' because both aim to reduce downtime, but Blue/green requires a separate environment and is not a rolling deployment within the same environment, while 'Immutable' is mistakenly chosen for its safety despite not being a rolling strategy.
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
✓
Set the deployment policy to 'Rolling'
The 'Rolling' deployment policy in AWS Elastic Beanstalk updates instances in batches, moving the new application version into a subset of instances while keeping the rest serving traffic, which minimizes downtime by ensuring capacity is never fully reduced. This is the correct choice for a rolling update that balances speed and availability without requiring a full parallel environment.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Set the deployment policy to 'Rolling'
Why this is correct
Setting the deployment policy to 'Rolling' is the correct approach for a rolling deployment strategy in AWS Elastic Beanstalk. This method updates instances in batches, ensuring that a portion of the application's capacity remains available to serve traffic throughout the deployment process. Elastic Beanstalk performs health checks on each batch before proceeding, minimizing downtime and allowing for a gradual, controlled update of the application version across the environment.
- ✗
Set the deployment policy to 'Immutable'
Why it's wrong here
Immutable deployments create an entirely new set of instances for the updated application version, then switch traffic to the new environment, rather than performing a rolling update on the existing instances. This approach, while providing zero-downtime and enabling quick rollback by terminating the new environment if issues arise, does not align with the requested *rolling deployment strategy*. It is tempting because it minimises downtime effectively, making it suitable when the primary goal is zero-downtime with robust rollback capabilities, irrespective of the specific deployment mechanism.
- ✗
Set the deployment policy to 'All at once'
Why it's wrong here
Setting the deployment policy to 'All at once' is incorrect because it updates all instances in the environment simultaneously. This approach causes significant downtime as all existing instances are taken offline or replaced at the same time, interrupting service availability. While simple, it is generally unsuitable for production environments requiring high availability, as it directly contradicts the goal of a rolling deployment strategy which aims to minimize service interruption.
- ✗
Set the deployment policy to 'Blue/green'
Why it's wrong here
Setting the deployment policy to 'Blue/green' is incorrect because it involves provisioning an entirely new environment for the updated application version and then swapping DNS, rather than performing an in-place update of existing instances. The question specifically asks for a rolling deployment strategy, which updates instances in batches within the current environment. Blue/green is tempting as it also minimises downtime and facilitates quick rollback, making it ideal when a complete environment swap is desired for maximum safety and zero-downtime cutovers.
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Same concept, more angles
2 more ways this is tested on DVA-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company uses AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy a web application. The developer wants to update the environment's configuration, such as instance type and environment variables, without causing downtime. Which deployment policy should the developer use?
easy- A.All at once
- B.Blue/green
- C.Immutable
- ✓ D.Rolling
Why D: The Rolling deployment policy is the correct choice because it updates instances in batches, replacing a subset of instances with the new configuration while keeping the rest running, thereby avoiding downtime. This allows environment variables and instance types to be changed incrementally without taking the entire application offline, as each batch is updated only after the previous batch remains healthy.
Variation 2. A developer is using AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy a web application. The developer needs to update the environment's configuration to use a larger instance type. What is the most efficient way to apply this change with minimal downtime?
easy- ✓ A.Update the environment configuration through the Elastic Beanstalk console or CLI, and use a rolling update strategy to apply the change to instances in batches.
- B.Perform a blue/green deployment by creating a new environment with the larger instance type, then swap the environment URLs.
- C.Modify the Auto Scaling group launch configuration directly to use the larger instance type, then manually terminate each instance.
- D.Terminate the current environment and create a new one with the larger instance type.
Why A: Elastic Beanstalk supports rolling updates, which allow you to change the instance type by updating instances in batches, minimizing downtime. Options B, C, and D are incorrect: B involves blue/green deployment, which is more complex and not the most efficient for a simple configuration change; C is wrong because directly modifying the Auto Scaling group launch configuration may be overwritten by Elastic Beanstalk and does not leverage Elastic Beanstalk's managed rolling update; D causes full downtime by terminating and recreating the environment.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DVA-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 DVA-C02 exam.