← DOP-C02·Amazon Web Services

Question 992 of 1,750

SDLC Automation →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

How to Add a Manual Approval Gate to Your CodePipeline with SNS Notification

This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of sdlc automation. 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 DevOps team is implementing a CI/CD pipeline using AWS CodePipeline. The pipeline has a Source stage using CodeCommit, a Build stage using CodeBuild, and a Deploy stage using CloudFormation. The team wants to add manual approval before the Deploy stage for production deployments. How should this be configured?

A
Configure a CloudWatch event to send an email on build success.
Why wrong: Email does not block the pipeline.
B
Use a Lambda function to approve based on build status.
Why wrong: Lambda cannot pause or approve a pipeline stage.
C
Add an Approval stage to the pipeline with SNS topic for notification.
CodePipeline supports manual approval actions that pause the pipeline.
D
Create a separate pipeline for production and trigger it manually.
Why wrong: Manual trigger is not automated approval.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

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

✓

Add an Approval stage to the pipeline with SNS topic for notification.

Option C is correct because AWS CodePipeline natively supports Approval stages that can be configured to pause the pipeline and send a notification via an SNS topic. The SNS topic can be subscribed to by email, SMS, or other endpoints, allowing a manual approver to review the build output and then approve or reject the transition to the Deploy stage. This directly meets the requirement for a manual approval gate before production deployment without custom code or separate pipelines.

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.

✗
Configure a CloudWatch event to send an email on build success.
Why it's wrong here
Email does not block the pipeline.
✗
Use a Lambda function to approve based on build status.
Why it's wrong here
Lambda cannot pause or approve a pipeline stage.
✓
Add an Approval stage to the pipeline with SNS topic for notification.
Why this is correct
CodePipeline supports manual approval actions that pause the pipeline.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Create a separate pipeline for production and trigger it manually.
Why it's wrong here
Manual trigger is not automated approval.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates often confuse automated notifications (like CloudWatch events or Lambda triggers) with the manual approval action, failing to recognize that CodePipeline's built-in Approval stage is the only native way to pause the pipeline for human intervention before deployment.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

Under the hood, a CodePipeline Approval stage uses an SNS topic to send a notification with a direct link to the pipeline's approval action in the AWS Management Console. The pipeline remains in a 'Waiting' state until an authorized IAM user or role calls the PutApprovalResult API with either 'Approved' or 'Rejected'. This mechanism ensures that the pipeline can be paused indefinitely, and the approval action can be configured with custom SNS message attributes to include build details or CloudFormation change set URLs for informed decision-making.

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 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

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.

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this DOP-C02 question test?

SDLC Automation — This question tests SDLC Automation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Add an Approval stage to the pipeline with SNS topic for notification. — Option C is correct because AWS CodePipeline natively supports Approval stages that can be configured to pause the pipeline and send a notification via an SNS topic. The SNS topic can be subscribed to by email, SMS, or other endpoints, allowing a manual approver to review the build output and then approve or reject the transition to the Deploy stage. This directly meets the requirement for a manual approval gate before production deployment without custom code or separate pipelines.

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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Same concept, more angles

1 more ways this is tested on DOP-C02

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 DevOps engineer is managing a CI/CD pipeline using AWS CodePipeline with multiple stages: Source (CodeCommit), Build (CodeBuild), Test (CodeBuild), and Deploy (CodeDeploy). The engineer wants to add manual approval steps before the Test and Deploy stages. Additionally, the pipeline should automatically roll back the deployment if the Deploy stage fails. Which two actions should the engineer take to implement these requirements? (Choose two.)

hard

A.Add an Approval action in the Test stage before the Test build action.
✓ B.Insert a new stage between Build and Test, and add an Approval action to that stage.
✓ C.In the CodeDeploy deployment group configuration, enable automatic rollback for deployment failure.
D.Add a Lambda function in the pipeline that triggers a rollback if the Deploy stage fails.
E.Configure the pipeline's Deploy stage to have a 'Rollback' action that runs on failure.

Why B: Option B is correct because manual approval actions in AWS CodePipeline must be added as a separate stage, not within an existing stage. By inserting a new stage between Build and Test and adding an Approval action, the pipeline pauses before the Test stage, allowing manual review. Option C is correct because CodeDeploy deployment groups support automatic rollback on deployment failure, which can be enabled in the deployment group configuration to revert to the last known good revision.

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