DVA-C02 Blue/green deployment Practice Question
A company uses AWS Elastic Beanstalk to run a web application. They want to deploy a new version with zero downtime. They have a production environment running the current version and a staging environment running the new version. After thoroughly testing the staging environment, they want to swap the URLs so that production now points to the new version. Which deployment strategy should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse blue/green deployment with immutable deployment, but immutable deployment does not allow you to maintain a separate staging environment for testing before the swap; it only replaces instances in the same environment.
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
✓
Blue/green deployment with CNAME swap
Blue/green deployment with a CNAME swap is the correct strategy because it allows you to run two identical environments (blue = current production, green = new version) and switch traffic atomically by updating the DNS CNAME record. This achieves zero downtime since the production environment remains active until the swap is complete, and the staging environment has been fully tested. Elastic Beanstalk supports this by letting you perform a CNAME swap between environments via the console, CLI, or API.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Blue/green deployment with CNAME swap
Why this is correct
Swapping the environment CNAMEs redirects production traffic to the already-tested staging environment instantly, so the old version stays live until the switch. This satisfies the zero-downtime constraint without redeploying, since both environments run concurrently and DNS cutover avoids in-place instance restarts.
- ✗
Rolling deployment
Why it's wrong here
Rolling deployment replaces instances in batches within the existing environment, so it cannot swap URLs between two separate environments. It suits applying updates gradually while keeping capacity, not the scenario's requirement to redirect production traffic to an already-tested staging environment.
- ✗
Immutable deployment
Why it's wrong here
Immutable deployment launches a fresh set of instances in the same environment and shifts traffic once healthy, but it never exchanges URLs between two distinct environments. It fits safely replacing instances without in-place modification, not promoting a tested staging environment to production.
- ✗
All at once deployment
Why it's wrong here
All at once deployment stops all instances and deploys the new version simultaneously, causing downtime and operating within one environment. It suits rapid development iterations where outages are acceptable, not the zero-downtime URL swap between production and staging environments described.
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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.