DOP-C02 Pipeline Approval Practice Question
A DevOps team uses AWS CodePipeline to deploy a web application. The pipeline has a manual approval step. During an incident, the deployment is stuck at the approval step because the approver is on leave. The team needs to unblock the pipeline quickly. What is the BEST action to take?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is thinking that only the designated approver can approve, when in fact any authorized IAM user can do so, making option B the fastest resolution.
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 CodePipeline console to approve the action directly as a different user.
In AWS CodePipeline, a manual approval action can be approved by any IAM user with the appropriate permissions, not just the designated approver. Using the console to approve as a different user is the quickest way to unblock the pipeline without modifying the pipeline structure. This action is immediate and preserves the pipeline's integrity.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Update the pipeline definition to remove the manual approval step temporarily.
Why it's wrong here
Editing the pipeline definition to remove the manual approval step requires a pipeline update (via console, CLI, or CloudFormation), which creates a new pipeline execution, but the currently blocked execution remains stuck at the approval action because the existing execution uses the original definition. Additionally, deleting a required compliance gate—even temporarily—violates change-control and audit requirements, and the update itself is not a quick fix since it must go through the same deployment pipeline.
- ✓
Use the CodePipeline console to approve the action directly as a different user.
Why this is correct
The CodePipeline console provides Approve and Reject buttons for any pending manual approval action to any IAM user or role with the codepipeline:ApproveStage permission. The approval is bound to the action and its configured IAM permissions, not to the specific person who originally triggered it, so another authorized user can approve the action and immediately unblock the current pipeline execution without any code or pipeline definition changes.
- ✗
Disable the transition to the approval stage and manually run the remaining stages.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling the transition to the approval stage is only possible from the previous stage, and it prevents future executions from entering the approval stage; it does not affect an execution that is already sitting at the approval action. CodePipeline does not support manually running individual remaining stages out of sequence, so trying to skip the blocked stage would require stopping and re-running the whole pipeline, which would still encounter the same approval gate if present.
- ✗
Retry the action in the approval stage from the CodePipeline console.
Why it's wrong here
The Retry action in the CodePipeline console re-invokes the same manual approval action, which simply re-sends the approval request to the same approver or approver group specified in the action configuration. If that approver is on leave, the request will remain pending again, and retrying does not alter the approver list, escalate the request, or change any IAM permissions, so it cannot unblock the pipeline and is not a valid resolution.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
This DOP-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 DOP-C02 exam.