Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company is developing a web application that runs on Amazon EC2 instances. The application needs to access an Amazon DynamoDB table to store and retrieve data. The security team requires that no IAM users or roles should be used; instead, the application must use temporary credentials that are automatically rotated. Which approach should the developer use to securely grant access to DynamoDB?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Distractor review
Create an IAM user with access keys and store the keys in AWS Secrets Manager. Have the application retrieve the keys at runtime.
This approach uses long-term IAM user credentials, which violates the requirement to not use IAM users and to have automatically rotated credentials. While Secrets Manager can rotate IAM user keys, it still involves IAM users.
B
Best answer
Launch the EC2 instance with an instance profile that has an IAM role attached. The IAM role should have a policy granting access to the DynamoDB table. The application uses the AWS SDK to obtain temporary credentials from the instance metadata service.
This is the recommended approach. The IAM role provides temporary credentials that are automatically rotated by AWS. The AWS SDK obtains credentials from the EC2 instance metadata service (IMDS). No long-term credentials are stored on the instance.
C
Distractor review
Use an AWS Lambda function to generate a pre-signed URL that allows access to DynamoDB, and have the EC2 instance use that URL.
Pre-signed URLs are not applicable to DynamoDB. They are used for S3 operations. Even for S3, this approach would require the Lambda function to have credentials, and the EC2 instance would not have direct access to DynamoDB.
D
Distractor review
Generate a long-lived API token using AWS KMS and embed it in the application code.
Embedding credentials in code is a security risk and violates the requirement for automatically rotated credentials. KMS is for encryption, not for generating API tokens for IAM.
Common exam trap
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.
Technical deep dive
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.
Related practice questions
Related DVA-C02 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A developer is building a REST API using Amazon API Gateway that will serve static content from an Amazon S3 bucket. The API should cache responses for frequently accessed objects to reduce latency. Which API Gateway feature should the developer enable?
Question 2
A developer is running a web application on multiple Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application needs to store user session state that must be available across all instances. The session data is small and temporary but must survive individual instance failures. Which AWS service should the developer use to store this session state?
Question 3
A developer has an AWS Lambda function that processes messages from an Amazon SQS standard queue. The function is idempotent and currently has a batch size of 10. The developer wants to increase throughput and increases the batch size to 100. After the change, CloudWatch metrics show a significant increase in throttles and the queue backlog is growing. The function's reserved concurrency is set to 10. What is the most effective action to resolve the throttling and improve throughput?
Question 4
A developer is managing an application running on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. Users report that the application becomes unresponsive after several hours, and restarting the instance temporarily fixes the issue. The developer suspects a memory leak but cannot add custom instrumentation. Which AWS service can collect memory utilization metrics and help identify the memory leak with minimal configuration?
Question 5
A developer is building a serverless web application using AWS Lambda and Amazon DynamoDB. The application needs to perform complex aggregations on data stored in DynamoDB. Which AWS service should the developer use to perform these aggregations efficiently without reading all the data into Lambda?
Question 6
A developer has an Amazon S3 bucket containing private user documents. The application must generate a time-limited URL for users to download their own documents without requiring the users to have AWS credentials. Which solution should the developer use?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this DVA-C02 question test?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Launch the EC2 instance with an instance profile that has an IAM role attached. The IAM role should have a policy granting access to the DynamoDB table. The application uses the AWS SDK to obtain temporary credentials from the instance metadata service. — The best practice is to assign an IAM role to the EC2 instance (instance profile) and then have the application obtain temporary credentials from the instance metadata service (IMDS). The IAM role's permissions are managed centrally and credentials are automatically rotated by AWS. This satisfies the requirement to use temporary credentials that are automatically rotated.
What should I do if I get this DVA-C02 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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