Quick Answer
The answer is custom Chef recipes in OpsWorks, as this is the native and recommended method for deploying application updates to a stack of EC2 instances managed by AWS OpsWorks. This is correct because OpsWorks is fundamentally a configuration management service built on Chef, and custom Chef recipes allow you to define precise, repeatable deployment tasks—such as pulling new code, restarting services, or updating dependencies—by hooking into lifecycle events like Deploy. On the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional DOP-C02 exam, this question tests your understanding of OpsWorks’ core architecture and its reliance on Chef automation, often appearing as a straightforward scenario where the trap is choosing manual SSH scripts or third-party tools instead of the integrated Chef approach. Remember the key: OpsWorks is Chef under the hood, so when you need to deploy, think “custom recipes on the Deploy lifecycle event.” A simple memory tip: “OpsWorks + Deploy = Chef Recipe.”
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 for configuration management. The DevOps team wants to deploy a new application version to a stack of EC2 instances. What should the team use to perform the deployment?
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Why wrong: Elastic Beanstalk is a separate PaaS service.
AWS CloudFormation
Why wrong: CloudFormation provisions infrastructure, not application deployments.
AWS CodeDeploy
Why wrong: CodeDeploy can be used but OpsWorks has built-in deployment via recipes.
Custom Chef recipes in OpsWorks
OpsWorks uses Chef recipes for configuration and deployment.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Custom Chef recipes in OpsWorks
AWS OpsWorks is a configuration management service that uses Chef. When you need to deploy a new application version to a stack of EC2 instances managed by OpsWorks, the native and recommended approach is to use custom Chef recipes. These recipes can be executed as a lifecycle event (e.g., Deploy) to update application code, restart services, or perform any deployment tasks directly on the instances, leveraging the existing OpsWorks agent and Chef infrastructure.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Why it's wrong here
Elastic Beanstalk is a separate PaaS service.
AWS CloudFormation
Why it's wrong here
CloudFormation provisions infrastructure, not application deployments.
AWS CodeDeploy
Why it's wrong here
CodeDeploy can be used but OpsWorks has built-in deployment via recipes.
Custom Chef recipes in OpsWorks
Why this is correct
OpsWorks uses Chef recipes for configuration and deployment.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse OpsWorks with Elastic Beanstalk or think that CodeDeploy is the universal deployment tool for all EC2 instances, forgetting that OpsWorks has its own native Chef-based deployment mechanism that should be used when the stack is already managed by OpsWorks.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, OpsWorks uses Chef Solo (or Chef Client with a Chef server) and runs recipes in response to lifecycle events (Setup, Configure, Deploy, Undeploy, Shutdown). The Deploy event is specifically designed for application deployment; custom recipes can use Chef resources like `deploy_revision` or `execute` to pull code from S3, Git, or other sources, and then restart services. A real-world scenario is a blue/green deployment where you update the app version by running a recipe that switches a symlink to a new release directory, ensuring zero-downtime updates within the OpsWorks stack.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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.
What to study next
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FAQ
Configuration Management and IaC — This question tests Configuration Management and IaC — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Custom Chef recipes in OpsWorks — AWS OpsWorks is a configuration management service that uses Chef. When you need to deploy a new application version to a stack of EC2 instances managed by OpsWorks, the native and recommended approach is to use custom Chef recipes. These recipes can be executed as a lifecycle event (e.g., Deploy) to update application code, restart services, or perform any deployment tasks directly on the instances, leveraging the existing OpsWorks agent and Chef infrastructure.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Same concept, more angles
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 OpsWorks for configuration management of its EC2 instances. The DevOps team wants to apply a new security patch to all instances in a specific layer. What is the most efficient way to accomplish this?
easyWhy C: Option C is correct because OpsWorks allows running custom Chef recipes as lifecycle events. Option A is wrong because it requires manual login. Option B is wrong because it is not automated across all instances. Option D is wrong because a new stack is unnecessary.
Variation 2. A company uses AWS OpsWorks for configuration management. The DevOps team wants to run a custom recipe on all instances in a layer during stack updates. Which OpsWorks lifecycle event should they hook the recipe into?
hardWhy D: Option C is correct because the Setup event runs after an instance finishes booting, which is appropriate for applying configurations during stack updates. Option A is wrong because Configure runs when instances come online or go offline. Option B is wrong because Deploy runs when you run a deploy command. Option D is wrong because Shutdown runs when the instance is terminated.
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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.
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