This DVA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of security. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 needs to securely store database credentials for a Lambda function. The credentials should be automatically rotated every 30 days. Which AWS service should the developer use?
AWS Key Management Service (KMS) to encrypt the credentials.
Why wrong: KMS does not store or rotate credentials.
Store the credentials in an IAM role's trust policy.
Why wrong: Not for database credentials.
AWS Secrets Manager.
Supports automatic rotation.
AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store with a SecureString parameter.
Why wrong: No automatic rotation.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
AWS Secrets Manager.
AWS Secrets Manager is the correct choice because it is specifically designed to securely store, manage, and automatically rotate database credentials and other secrets. It supports native rotation of credentials for Amazon RDS, Redshift, and DocumentDB with built-in Lambda rotation functions, and can be configured to rotate on a schedule (e.g., every 30 days) without custom code. The service also integrates directly with Lambda via the AWS SDK to retrieve secrets at runtime, ensuring credentials are never hardcoded.
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.
AWS Key Management Service (KMS) to encrypt the credentials.
Why it's wrong here
KMS does not store or rotate credentials.
Store the credentials in an IAM role's trust policy.
Why it's wrong here
Not for database credentials.
AWS Secrets Manager.
Why this is correct
Supports automatic rotation.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store with a SecureString parameter.
Why it's wrong here
No automatic rotation.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store (which can store secrets with SecureString) with AWS Secrets Manager, but the key differentiator is that Secrets Manager provides built-in automatic rotation, which is explicitly required by the question.
Detailed technical explanation
Secrets Manager uses a combination of KMS customer master keys (CMKs) to encrypt secrets at rest and in transit, and it leverages AWS Lambda functions to perform the actual rotation logic. When you enable automatic rotation, Secrets Manager creates a Lambda function that updates the credential in both the secret and the target database, ensuring the old credential is invalidated after a configurable window. A subtle behavior is that the rotation process can be configured to rotate immediately or on a schedule, and the secret version ID changes with each rotation, which is critical for applications that cache credentials.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
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FAQ
Security — This question tests Security — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS Secrets Manager. — AWS Secrets Manager is the correct choice because it is specifically designed to securely store, manage, and automatically rotate database credentials and other secrets. It supports native rotation of credentials for Amazon RDS, Redshift, and DocumentDB with built-in Lambda rotation functions, and can be configured to rotate on a schedule (e.g., every 30 days) without custom code. The service also integrates directly with Lambda via the AWS SDK to retrieve secrets at runtime, ensuring credentials are never hardcoded.
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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