Question 99 of 1,616
DeploymentmediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

Blue/Green Deployment — Swap Environment URLs | AWS Developer Associate Explained

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 Elastic Beanstalk to deploy a web application. The developer wants to perform a blue/green deployment to minimize downtime. The developer creates a new environment and deploys the new version. After verifying the new environment is healthy, the developer needs to swap the URLs so that traffic is routed to the new environment. Which AWS Elastic Beanstalk feature should the developer use?

Clue words in this question

Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.

  • Clue: "minimum / minimize"

    Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.

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

Use the 'Swap environment URLs' feature in the Elastic Beanstalk console.

The correct answer is A: Use the 'Swap environment URLs' feature in the Elastic Beanstalk console. This feature swaps the CNAME records between two environments, allowing you to route traffic to the new, healthy environment with minimal downtime. Option B is not recommended because deleting the old environment before fully verifying the new one is risky. Option C involves Route 53 weighted routing, which is not an Elastic Beanstalk feature and requires manual DNS management outside of Elastic Beanstalk. Option D is incorrect because environment CNAMEs are managed by Elastic Beanstalk and cannot be changed manually.

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.

  • Use the 'Swap environment URLs' feature in the Elastic Beanstalk console.

    Why this is correct

    This swaps the URLs between two environments.

    Clue confirmation

    The clue word "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.

    Related concept

    Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

  • Delete the old environment and update the DNS record to point to the new environment.

    Why it's wrong here

    This would cause downtime.

  • Use Amazon Route 53 weighted routing policies to shift traffic.

    Why it's wrong here

    This is possible but not an Elastic Beanstalk feature.

  • Change the environment's CNAME to point to the new environment.

    Why it's wrong here

    Elastic Beanstalk manages CNAMEs; you cannot change them directly.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.

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.
  • Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.

TExam Day Tips

  • Underline the problem statement mentally.
  • 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 cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.

Quick reference

Common DNS Record Types

RecordPurposeExample
AIPv4 address mappingexample.com → 93.184.216.34
AAAAIPv6 address mappingexample.com → 2606:2800::1
CNAMEAlias to another hostnamewww → example.com
MXMail server for domainexample.com → mail.example.com (priority 10)
TXTText data (SPF, DKIM, verification)v=spf1 include:_spf.example.com ~all
NSAuthoritative name serversexample.com NS ns1.example.com
PTRReverse DNS (IP → hostname)34.216.184.93.in-addr.arpa → example.com
SOAZone authority recordPrimary NS, admin email, serial, TTL defaults

What to study next

Got this wrong? Here's your next step.

Identify which DVA-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.

Related practice questions

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Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this DVA-C02 question test?

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: Use the 'Swap environment URLs' feature in the Elastic Beanstalk console. — The correct answer is A: Use the 'Swap environment URLs' feature in the Elastic Beanstalk console. This feature swaps the CNAME records between two environments, allowing you to route traffic to the new, healthy environment with minimal downtime. Option B is not recommended because deleting the old environment before fully verifying the new one is risky. Option C involves Route 53 weighted routing, which is not an Elastic Beanstalk feature and requires manual DNS management outside of Elastic Beanstalk. Option D is incorrect because environment CNAMEs are managed by Elastic Beanstalk and cannot be changed manually.

What should I do if I get this DVA-C02 question wrong?

Identify which DVA-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.

Are there clue words in this question I should notice?

Yes — watch for: "minimum / minimize". Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

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Same concept, more angles

4 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 development team wants to deploy a new version of the application to a separate environment for testing before switching production traffic. Which deployment strategy should be used?

easy
  • A.Immutable deployment.
  • B.All at once deployment.
  • C.Blue/green deployment.
  • D.Rolling deployment.

Why C: Blue/green deployment (Option C) creates a separate, independent environment (green) for the new version, allowing thorough testing before swapping the environment's URLs to route production traffic to the green environment. This minimizes risk and enables quick rollback. Option A (immutable) launches a new Auto Scaling group in the same environment but does not isolate the new version in a separate environment; Option B (all at once) updates all instances simultaneously in the same environment, causing downtime; Option D (rolling) updates instances in batches in the same environment, exposing some users to the new version during deployment.

Variation 2. A company uses AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy a web application. The development team wants to test a new feature by routing a small percentage of traffic to a separate environment before fully rolling out. Which Elastic Beanstalk deployment strategy should the developer use?

hard
  • A.Rolling deployment
  • B.Blue/green deployment
  • C.Immutable deployment
  • D.All at once deployment

Why B: Blue/green deployment is the correct strategy because it allows you to route a small percentage of traffic to a separate environment (the 'green' environment) by swapping the CNAME record or using Elastic Beanstalk's environment URL swap feature. This enables testing the new feature with a subset of users before fully rolling out to the 'blue' environment, minimizing risk and enabling quick rollback if issues arise.

Variation 3. A company uses AWS Elastic Beanstalk to run a web application. They want to deploy a new version with zero downtime and roll forward if successful. They have two environments: a production environment (current version) and a staging environment (new version). After verifying the staging environment, they want to swap the URLs so that production now points to the new version. Which deployment strategy should they use?

medium
  • A.Blue/green deployment with environment CNAME swap
  • B.All at once deployment
  • C.Rolling deployment with additional batch
  • D.Immutable deployment

Why A: Option A is correct because blue/green deployment with an environment CNAME swap allows you to run two separate Elastic Beanstalk environments (production and staging) simultaneously. After verifying the new version in the staging environment, you swap the CNAME records so that the production URL points to the staging environment, achieving zero downtime and a roll-forward strategy. This approach decouples the deployment from the existing environment, ensuring no disruption to live traffic during the swap.

Variation 4. 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?

easy
  • A.Blue/green deployment with CNAME swap
  • B.Rolling deployment
  • C.Immutable deployment
  • D.All at once deployment

Why A: 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.

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Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026

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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.