DOP-C02 Configuration Management and IaC Practice Question
This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of configuration management and iac. 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 company uses AWS OpsWorks to manage a set of EC2 instances. They need to ensure that a custom recipe runs on all instances during the 'Configure' lifecycle event. What is the correct way to achieve this?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Upload the recipe to a custom cookbook repository and assign it to the 'Configure' lifecycle event in the stack settings.
In AWS OpsWorks, lifecycle events (such as Configure) are tied to layers, not individual instances. To run a custom recipe on all instances during the Configure event, you must upload the recipe to a custom cookbook repository (e.g., S3 or Git) and then assign that recipe to the Configure lifecycle event in the stack's layer settings. This ensures OpsWorks Chef runs the recipe on every instance in that layer whenever the Configure event fires (e.g., after scaling or instance state changes).
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.
✗
Modify the stack's CloudFormation template to include the recipe.
Why it's wrong here
OpsWorks stacks are not defined by CloudFormation templates.
✓
Upload the recipe to a custom cookbook repository and assign it to the 'Configure' lifecycle event in the stack settings.
Why this is correct
This is the standard way to run custom recipes on OpsWorks lifecycle events.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Add the recipe commands to the instance's user data script.
Why it's wrong here
User data runs only once at boot, not during each Configure event.
✗
Use AWS CodeDeploy to trigger the recipe during the Configure event.
Why it's wrong here
CodeDeploy is for application deployment, not OpsWorks lifecycle events.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse the one-time execution of user data scripts (Option C) with the recurring, event-driven nature of OpsWorks lifecycle events, or mistakenly think CloudFormation (Option A) or CodeDeploy (Option D) can directly manage OpsWorks recipe execution.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, OpsWorks uses Chef Solo (or Chef Client) to execute recipes assigned to each lifecycle event. The Configure event is triggered whenever an instance enters or leaves the online state, or when a layer's configuration changes, ensuring recipes run on all instances in the layer. The custom cookbook repository must be specified in the stack settings with a valid URL and authentication (e.g., S3 bucket with IAM role or Git SSH key), and the recipe name must be exactly as defined in the cookbook's metadata.rb.
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.
TExam Day Tips
→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 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
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Configuration Management and IaC — This question tests Configuration Management and IaC — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Upload the recipe to a custom cookbook repository and assign it to the 'Configure' lifecycle event in the stack settings. — In AWS OpsWorks, lifecycle events (such as Configure) are tied to layers, not individual instances. To run a custom recipe on all instances during the Configure event, you must upload the recipe to a custom cookbook repository (e.g., S3 or Git) and then assign that recipe to the Configure lifecycle event in the stack's layer settings. This ensures OpsWorks Chef runs the recipe on every instance in that layer whenever the Configure event fires (e.g., after scaling or instance state changes).
What should I do if I get this DOP-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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