This DVA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of deployment. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 developer is deploying a serverless application using AWS SAM. The application includes multiple Lambda functions and an API Gateway. Which THREE AWS CLI commands are part of the typical SAM deployment workflow? (Choose THREE.)
sam deploy
Deploys the application.
sam init
Why wrong: Used for initial project creation, not deployment.
sam package
Packages and uploads to S3.
sam build
Builds the application.
aws s3 cp
Why wrong: Not part of SAM workflow.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
sam deploy
Option A is correct because `sam deploy` is the AWS SAM CLI command that deploys the packaged application to AWS, creating or updating the CloudFormation stack with the Lambda functions and API Gateway resources. It reads the `template.yaml` and the packaged artifacts (from `sam package`) to provision the infrastructure. This command is the final step in the standard SAM deployment workflow.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
sam deploy
Why this is correct
Deploys the application.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
sam init
Why it's wrong here
Used for initial project creation, not deployment.
sam package
Why this is correct
Packages and uploads to S3.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
sam build
Why this is correct
Builds the application.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
aws s3 cp
Why it's wrong here
Not part of SAM workflow.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse `sam init` (a project scaffolding command) with a deployment step, or mistakenly think `aws s3 cp` is part of the SAM workflow when in fact SAM provides its own `sam package` command to handle S3 uploads and template transformation.
Detailed technical explanation
The SAM deployment workflow typically involves three steps: `sam build` (which compiles dependencies and prepares artifacts locally), `sam package` (which uploads the build artifacts to an S3 bucket and generates a packaged CloudFormation template), and `sam deploy` (which deploys the packaged template as a CloudFormation stack). Under the hood, `sam package` uses the AWS CLI's S3 upload capabilities but abstracts away the manual `aws s3 cp` calls, ensuring the template references the correct S3 URIs. A real-world scenario where this matters is when deploying Lambda layers or large dependencies, as `sam build` handles native module compilation and `sam package` ensures all artifacts are properly staged in S3 before deployment.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Deployment — This question tests Deployment — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: sam deploy — Option A is correct because `sam deploy` is the AWS SAM CLI command that deploys the packaged application to AWS, creating or updating the CloudFormation stack with the Lambda functions and API Gateway resources. It reads the `template.yaml` and the packaged artifacts (from `sam package`) to provision the infrastructure. This command is the final step in the standard SAM deployment workflow.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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.
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