DOP-C02 Configuration Management and IaC Practice Question
A company is designing a CI/CD pipeline using AWS CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy. They need to ensure that the pipeline can deploy to multiple environments (dev, test, prod) with manual approval gates. Which TWO actions should they take? (Choose TWO.)
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse CodeDeploy deployment groups with environment stages, thinking that a single deployment group can represent an entire environment, when in fact deployment groups are compute targets within an environment and do not provide the stage-level orchestration or manual approval gates that CodePipeline stages offer.
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
✓
Create separate stages in the pipeline for dev, test, and prod
AWS CodePipeline allows you to define separate stages for each environment (dev, test, prod) within a single pipeline. This enables sequential or parallel deployments with clear separation of concerns, and each stage can have its own actions, such as deployment to a specific CodeDeploy application or environment. Option D is correct because you can add a manual approval action as a stage gate before each environment deployment, ensuring that a human reviewer must explicitly approve the promotion before the pipeline proceeds to the next environment.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create separate stages in the pipeline for dev, test, and prod
Why this is correct
Separate stages in CodePipeline provide a sequential execution model where each stage contains a set of actions that deploy or test an environment. By defining dev, test, and prod as distinct stages, you enforce an ordered promotion flow, allow artifacts to progress only after each stage succeeds, and can insert approval actions between them. This is the fundamental way to model environment promotion in CodePipeline.
- ✗
Configure a single pipeline with multiple branches in the source stage
Why it's wrong here
CodePipeline's source stage is tied to a single source action, typically a specific branch of a repository, and its output artifact is the only source payload for the rest of the pipeline. Using multiple branches in one source action would require custom logic to merge or select branches, and still cannot sequence deployments per environment. The standard pattern is to use a separate pipeline for each branch, linked through a source stage that monitors that branch.
- ✗
Use CodeDeploy deployment groups to represent each environment
Why it's wrong here
CodeDeploy deployment groups define the exact set of compute instances or Lambda functions to receive a revision, essentially a deployment target configuration. They do not include a notion of stage gates, approval checks, or sequential promotion; they are used within a CodePipeline stage as a deploy action. You can have separate deployment groups for dev and prod, but you still need distinct stages and manual approvals in the pipeline to control promotion.
- ✓
Add a manual approval stage before each environment deployment
Why this is correct
A manual approval stage in CodePipeline pauses the pipeline and sends an SNS notification to designated reviewers, who must explicitly approve or reject before the pipeline continues. Placing an approval stage immediately before each environment deployment ensures that no code reaches an environment without human sign-off. This can be implemented as a dedicated approval stage or as an approval action within the deployment stage itself.
- ✗
Use CodeBuild batch builds to manage environment promotion
Why it's wrong here
CodeBuild batch builds are designed to accelerate the build process by running multiple builds in one batch when a change is pushed; they do not model environment progression. They operate at the build level, not the deployment orchestration level, and have no concept of approvals or sequential environment transitions. Environment promotion in CodePipeline must be implemented with stages and transitions, not by batch build configuration.
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