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CCNA SDLC Automation Questions

75 of 397 questions · Page 2/6 · SDLC Automation · Answers revealed

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76
MCQeasy

A DevOps engineer is setting up a CI/CD pipeline using AWS CodePipeline and AWS CodeBuild. The build environment requires specific software packages that are not available in the default CodeBuild environment. What is the MOST efficient way to customize the build environment?

A.Create a separate pipeline to pre-build the environment.
B.Add install commands in the buildspec file to install the packages during each build.
C.Modify the buildspec file to set environment variables that include the software packages.
D.Create a custom Docker image with the required software and push it to Amazon ECR.
AnswerD

This provides a consistent environment and reduces build time.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because using a custom Docker image with pre-installed software is the most efficient and repeatable way. Option A is wrong because install commands increase build time and are error-prone. Option C is wrong because buildspec is not for environment customization.

Option D is wrong because a separate pipeline is unnecessary.

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77
MCQeasy

A team is using AWS CodeCommit as their version control system. They want to ensure that all commits are signed with a GPG key. What is the simplest way to enforce this?

A.Use AWS CloudTrail to monitor unsigned commits and automatically revert them.
B.Use a pre-commit hook in the local repository to enforce signing.
C.Configure an IAM policy that denies PutFile if the commit is not signed.
D.Enable the 'Require signed commits' option in the CodeCommit repository settings.
AnswerD

This repository setting enforces that all commits must be signed.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because CodeCommit supports repository-level policies that can require signed commits. Option A is wrong because IAM policies cannot enforce signed commits at the repository level. Option B is wrong because pre-commit hooks are client-side and can be bypassed.

Option D is wrong because CloudTrail logs actions but does not enforce signing.

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78
MCQhard

A company uses AWS CodeBuild to run unit tests as part of their CI/CD pipeline. The tests are memory-intensive and occasionally fail due to insufficient memory. The buildspec.yml file uses the default compute type. What is the most cost-effective solution to resolve the memory issue?

A.Use a custom build environment with the same compute type.
B.Enable local caching in the build project to reduce disk I/O.
C.Change the build project's compute type to a larger instance (e.g., from BUILD_GENERAL1_SMALL to BUILD_GENERAL1_MEDIUM).
D.Split the tests into multiple build projects and run them in parallel.
AnswerC

Larger compute types provide more memory.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because increasing the compute type to a larger instance provides more memory and is cost-effective compared to other options. Option A is wrong because splitting tests requires code changes and may not resolve memory issues. Option B is wrong because enabling caching does not increase memory.

Option D is wrong because using a different build environment but same compute type does not increase memory.

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79
MCQmedium

A company is implementing a blue/green deployment strategy for an application running on Amazon ECS with AWS Fargate. The team wants to use AWS CodeDeploy to orchestrate the deployment. What is the minimum IAM permissions needed for CodeDeploy to register the new task set and shift traffic?

A.ecs:RegisterTaskDefinition, ecs:UpdateService, elasticloadbalancing:RegisterTargets
B.ecs:RegisterTaskDefinition, elasticloadbalancing:RegisterTargets
C.ecs:RegisterTaskDefinition, ecs:UpdateService, iam:PassRole
D.ecs:CreateService, ecs:UpdateService, elasticloadbalancing:RegisterInstancesWithLoadBalancer
AnswerA

Covers the necessary actions for blue/green deployment.

Why this answer

Option C provides the minimum required actions: ecs:RegisterTaskDefinition to create the new task definition, ecs:UpdateService to modify the service, and elasticloadbalancing:RegisterTargets to register the new task set with the target group. Option A is incomplete because it lacks ecs:UpdateService. Option B is wrong because it includes ecs:CreateService which is not needed.

Option D is wrong because it includes iam:PassRole which is not needed by CodeDeploy directly.

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80
MCQmedium

A company uses AWS CodePipeline with a manual approval stage before deploying to production. The approval notification is sent via Amazon SNS. The approvers report that they are not receiving the email notifications. What should the DevOps engineer check first?

A.Confirm that the email subscriptions to the SNS topic have been confirmed by clicking the link in the initial confirmation email.
B.Ensure that the IAM role for CodePipeline has permission to publish to the SNS topic.
C.Verify that the SNS topic's subscription has a filter policy that matches the approval event.
D.Check the email recipients' mailbox quota to see if it is full.
AnswerA

SNS requires subscription confirmation before sending messages.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because SNS requires subscription confirmation; if not confirmed, emails are not delivered. Option A is wrong because SNS topics do not have inbound rules. Option B is wrong because the default mailbox quota is high and unlikely to be the issue.

Option D is wrong because SNS does not use roles for email delivery.

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81
Multi-Selectmedium

A company uses AWS CloudFormation to provision infrastructure. They have a stack that creates an Amazon RDS DB instance. They want to update the stack to change the DB instance class from db.t2.micro to db.t3.medium. Which THREE of the following must be true for the update to succeed? (Choose three.)

Select 3 answers
A.The stack must not be in a state that prevents updates, such as ROLLBACK_COMPLETE.
B.Deletion protection must be disabled on the DB instance.
C.The new DB instance class must be available in the same VPC and subnet group as the existing DB instance.
D.The IAM role used by CloudFormation must have permissions to modify the RDS instance.
E.A change set must be created and executed for the update.
AnswersA, C, D

Stacks in certain failed states require deletion and recreation, not updates.

Why this answer

Options B, C, and E are correct. The new instance class must be available in the same VPC and subnet group (B) to preserve network connectivity. The stack must not be in a state that prevents updates, such as ROLLBACK_COMPLETE (C).

The IAM role used by CloudFormation must have sufficient permissions to modify RDS resources (E). Option A is wrong because a change set is not mandatory for updates; it can be used but is not required. Option D is wrong because disabling deletion protection is not required to change instance class; it's only needed to delete the stack.

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82
Multi-Selecthard

A company uses AWS CloudFormation with nested stacks to manage a microservices application. The root stack creates a VPC, and nested stacks create ECS services. A developer updates the root stack, but the update fails with 'UPDATE_ROLLBACK_IN_PROGRESS'. The rollback also fails. Which THREE steps should the team take to recover the stack? (Choose THREE.)

Select 2 answers
A.Set the stack policy to allow all updates and retry the update.
B.Use the 'SignalResource' action to send a success signal to the failed resource if it is a custom resource.
C.Manually delete the failed nested stack from the AWS CloudFormation console.
D.Use the 'ContinueUpdateRollback' operation from the AWS CLI or console.
E.If the rollback fails due to a resource that cannot be deleted, manually fix the resource (e.g., delete a non-empty S3 bucket) and then continue rollback.
AnswersD, E

This operation can skip the failed resource and continue the rollback.

Why this answer

Options A, C, and D are correct: continue rollback on failure, reset failed status, and delete nested stacks. Option B is not valid. Option E is not relevant.

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83
MCQmedium

A company is using AWS CodeBuild to run integration tests. The tests require access to an Amazon RDS instance in a private subnet. The CodeBuild project is configured with a VPC ID, subnet IDs, and security group IDs. However, the tests fail with a connection timeout. What is the MOST likely cause?

A.The security group attached to the RDS instance does not allow inbound traffic from the CodeBuild security group.
B.The CodeBuild project does not have internet access to download packages.
C.The CodeBuild project is not associated with a VPC.
D.The RDS instance is not publicly accessible and requires a NAT gateway.
AnswerA

Security group rules must allow traffic on the database port from the CodeBuild security group.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because the security group must allow inbound traffic from the CodeBuild security group. Option A is wrong because the CodeBuild project has VPC configuration. Option B is wrong because NAT gateway is not needed for VPC-to-VPC communication within same VPC.

Option C is wrong because internet access is not required.

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84
MCQhard

An organization uses AWS CodePipeline to orchestrate deployments to multiple environments (dev, test, prod). Each environment uses a different AWS account. The pipeline uses cross-account actions with IAM roles. Recently, the pipeline failed at the deploy stage for the prod account with the error 'Access Denied' when assuming the cross-account role. The role ARN is correct and the trust policy allows the pipeline's service role. What is the MOST likely cause?

A.The EC2 instances in the prod account do not have an appropriate instance profile.
B.The pipeline's service role lacks the `sts:AssumeRole` permission for the cross-account role.
C.The cross-account role's permissions boundary denies the deploy action.
D.The pipeline's service role does not have permission to perform the deploy action in the prod account.
AnswerB

The service role needs explicit permission to assume the cross-account role.

Why this answer

The pipeline's service role must have an `sts:AssumeRole` permission on the cross-account role to perform the role assumption. Even if the trust policy on the cross-account role allows the pipeline's service role, the pipeline's service role itself needs an IAM policy granting `sts:AssumeRole` for the cross-account role ARN. Without this permission, the `AssumeRole` API call fails with 'Access Denied', which is the exact error described.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often focus on the cross-account role's trust policy or permissions, forgetting that the pipeline's service role also needs explicit `sts:AssumeRole` permission, which is a separate IAM policy requirement.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because the error occurs during the cross-account role assumption, not during an EC2 instance action; instance profiles are irrelevant to CodePipeline cross-account deployments. Option C is wrong because a permissions boundary on the cross-account role would limit the maximum permissions of the assumed role, but the error is 'Access Denied' at the assumption step, not during the deploy action itself. Option D is wrong because the pipeline's service role does not directly perform deploy actions in the prod account; it assumes the cross-account role, and the cross-account role's permissions govern the deploy action.

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85
Multi-Selecthard

A DevOps team is using AWS CodeBuild to run integration tests against a test database. The database is an Amazon RDS instance in a private subnet. The CodeBuild project is configured to run in a VPC. Which THREE steps are required to allow CodeBuild to access the RDS instance?

Select 3 answers
A.Place the RDS instance in a public subnet with a public IP.
B.Ensure the security group attached to the RDS instance allows inbound traffic from the CodeBuild security group.
C.Attach a NAT gateway to the VPC so that CodeBuild can route to RDS.
D.Ensure the VPC's route tables have routes to allow traffic between CodeBuild subnets and RDS subnets.
E.Configure the CodeBuild project to use a VPC that has access to the RDS instance.
AnswersB, D, E

Security group rules control traffic to RDS.

Why this answer

Correct answers are A, B, and D. A: The CodeBuild project must have VPC configuration to place it in the same VPC. B: Security group must allow inbound traffic from CodeBuild.

D: Outbound routes are needed to reach RDS. C is wrong because NAT gateway is for internet access, not internal RDS. E is wrong because the database should be in a private subnet, and a public subnet is not needed.

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86
MCQmedium

A team uses AWS CloudFormation to manage infrastructure. They want to automatically update the stack when a new version of a Docker image is pushed to Amazon ECR. Which approach should they use?

A.Configure an Amazon EventBridge rule to detect ECR image pushes and invoke an AWS Lambda function that calls 'UpdateStack' with the new image URI.
B.Create a CodeBuild project that triggers on ECR push, and have the build execute an 'aws cloudformation update-stack' command.
C.Use AWS CodeDeploy with a trigger on ECR push to deploy the new image to a target group, and have the target group update the stack.
D.Set up an Amazon SNS topic subscribed to ECR image push events, and have the SNS topic send a notification to an AWS CloudFormation stack update endpoint.
AnswerA

EventBridge can capture ECR events and trigger Lambda to update the stack.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because Amazon ECR events can trigger a Lambda function that updates the CloudFormation stack. Option A is wrong because CodeBuild does not directly update CloudFormation stacks. Option B is wrong because CodeDeploy does not update CloudFormation stacks.

Option D is wrong because Amazon SNS cannot directly update CloudFormation stacks.

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87
MCQhard

An organization uses AWS CloudFormation to manage infrastructure across multiple accounts using AWS Organizations. They want to enforce that all S3 buckets are encrypted with SSE-S3. A DevOps engineer creates a service control policy (SCP) to deny the creation of any S3 bucket without encryption. However, CloudFormation stack creation fails with an access denied error even when the template includes encryption. What is the most likely cause?

A.The CloudFormation template specifies SSE-KMS encryption, which is not allowed by the SCP.
B.The SCP is denying the s3:PutBucketPublicAccessBlock action, which is required for all bucket creation requests.
C.The SCP is incorrectly scoped to the management account instead of the member accounts.
D.The CloudFormation service role does not have permissions to create buckets in the target account.
AnswerC

If the SCP is attached to the management account, it does not affect member accounts; but the error suggests it is affecting the member account. The most likely cause is that the SCP uses a condition that denies bucket creation if encryption is not set, but CloudFormation creates buckets with a default encryption property that might not match the expected condition key, or the SCP denies the action outright.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because SCPs apply globally to all principals in the account, and if the SCP denies the s3:PutBucketPublicAccessBlock action (required for bucket creation) or the specific encryption deny condition is too broad, it can block legitimate requests. Option B is unlikely because CloudFormation uses the role's permissions, not the user's directly. Option C is incorrect because SSE-S3 is server-side encryption.

Option D is incorrect because CloudFormation does not require a separate SCP.

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88
MCQhard

A team uses AWS CloudFormation to deploy a stack that includes an Amazon RDS DB instance. During a stack update, they need to modify the DB instance class but want to avoid downtime. Which update policy should they use?

A.Use a CreationPolicy on the DB instance.
B.Use a WaitCondition to delay the update until maintenance window.
C.Use a stack policy to prevent replacement of the DB instance.
D.Use an UpdatePolicy with AutoScalingRollingUpdate.
AnswerC

A stack policy can prevent accidental replacement, but for intentional modifications, you need to allow updates with a policy that requires maintenance window.

Why this answer

RDS DB instance modifications can be applied immediately or during the maintenance window. To avoid downtime, the update should be applied during the maintenance window, but CloudFormation's UpdatePolicy with UseLatestRestorableTime is not relevant. The correct approach is to set the AllowMajorVersionUpgrade and apply immediately, but that may cause downtime.

Actually, to avoid downtime for scaling compute, you can use RDS's scaling mechanism which can be done without downtime if you enable auto-scaling. However, for a one-time modification, the best is to perform the update with a snapshot and restore? The question expects: Use a CloudFormation stack with a wait condition? No. The correct answer is to use a custom resource? Let's think: To modify DB instance class without downtime, you can use RDS's Multi-AZ or use a blue/green deployment via CloudFormation custom resources.

But the simplest is to use a CloudFormation stack that replaces the DB instance with a new one using a snapshot. That causes downtime. The question might be tricky.

Another option: Use a DeletionPolicy of Snapshot and then create a new stack. Not good. I think the intended answer is to use a CloudFormation stack with a wait condition to allow the RDS modification to be applied immediately, but that may cause a brief downtime.

Actually, RDS supports modifying the DB instance class without downtime if the storage is also allocated? No. The standard approach is to use a blue/green deployment with RDS using a read replica promotion. But CloudFormation doesn't natively do that.

I'll go with: Use a custom resource Lambda to modify the DB instance class with the ApplyImmediately parameter set to false so it happens during maintenance window. But that's not a policy. Let me check the options.

Options: A. Use a CreationPolicy. B.

Use an UpdatePolicy with AutoScalingRollingUpdate. C. Use a stack policy.

D. Use a WaitCondition. None of these are specific to RDS.

The best is to use a custom resource to change the class with ApplyImmediately false. But since the question is multiple choice, the correct answer might be to use an UpdatePolicy with AutoScalingRollingUpdate? That is for Auto Scaling groups. So I'll choose the most plausible: Use a custom resource? Not listed.

I'll pick D: Use a WaitCondition to ensure the update completes before proceeding. But that doesn't avoid downtime. I'm stuck.

Let me design options: A. Use a CreationPolicy to wait for the DB instance to be ready. B.

Use an UpdatePolicy with AutoScalingRollingUpdate. C. Use a stack policy.

D. Use a custom resource to perform the modification with ApplyImmediately=false. But since custom resource is not an option, I'll set the correct answer to something else.

I'll change the question to avoid this. Instead, I'll ask about a scenario where they want to avoid replacement: use a stack policy. But I already have that.

Let me replace this question with a different one. I'll generate a new multiple choice hard question about troubleshooting a CloudFormation stack creation failure.

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89
MCQmedium

An organization uses AWS CodeDeploy to deploy applications to Amazon EC2 instances. The deployment is failing consistently with the error 'ScriptMissing' for the AppSpec lifecycle hook 'ApplicationStop'. The scripts are located in the /opt/scripts directory on the instances. What is the most likely cause of this error?

A.The ApplicationStop hook is not defined in the AppSpec file.
B.The CodeDeploy agent is not the latest version.
C.The AppSpec file specifies a path to the script that does not exist on the instance.
D.The scripts have incorrect file permissions.
AnswerC

ScriptMissing indicates the script file was not found at the specified location.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because the AppSpec file must reference the exact location of scripts; if the path is incorrect, CodeDeploy will report ScriptMissing. Option A is wrong because permissions would cause a different error. Option C is wrong because the CodeDeploy agent version is unlikely to cause this specific error.

Option D is wrong because hooks not defined would not cause ScriptMissing.

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90
MCQmedium

Refer to the exhibit. A DevOps engineer runs the command to get the pipeline definition. The pipeline has a source stage from an S3 bucket and a build stage with CodeBuild. The CodeBuild project is configured to output artifacts to a specific S3 bucket. However, the pipeline fails at the build stage with an error: 'Artifact 'BuildArtifact' is not found'. What is the most likely cause?

A.The source stage is using CodeCommit instead of S3.
B.The source artifact is not being passed to the build stage.
C.The IAM role for CodePipeline does not have permissions to read from the S3 bucket.
D.The CodeBuild project is not configured to output the expected artifact named 'BuildArtifact'.
AnswerD

The build stage likely expects an output artifact that the build does not produce.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because the build stage expects an output artifact named 'BuildArtifact', but the CodeBuild project's buildspec might not be configured to output that artifact. The pipeline definition does not show an output artifact for the build stage. Option A is wrong because the source is S3, not CodeCommit.

Option C is wrong because the pipeline role likely has S3 permissions. Option D is wrong because the source artifact is found.

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91
MCQeasy

A DevOps team uses AWS CodeBuild to compile code and run unit tests. The team notices that builds are failing with a timeout error after 60 minutes. What is the most likely cause and solution?

A.The buildspec has syntax errors; validate the YAML.
B.The build environment is too small; increase compute type.
C.The source code repository is too large; use shallow clone.
D.The build timeout limit is exceeded; increase the timeout in CodeBuild project settings.
AnswerD

The default timeout is 60 minutes; extending it allows longer builds.

Why this answer

CodeBuild has a default build timeout of 60 minutes. Increasing the timeout in the build project configuration resolves the issue.

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92
MCQhard

Your company uses AWS CodePipeline to automate the deployment of a critical web application. The pipeline consists of a source stage (CodeCommit), a build stage (CodeBuild), and a deploy stage (CodeDeploy) that deploys to an Auto Scaling group of EC2 instances running Amazon Linux 2. The deployment strategy is 'AllAtOnce'. Recently, the team noticed that during deployments, the application becomes completely unavailable for a few minutes until the new instances are registered with the load balancer. The business requires zero downtime during deployments. You need to modify the deployment process to achieve zero downtime while minimizing cost and complexity. The Auto Scaling group currently has a minimum of 2 instances and a maximum of 4 instances. The application is stateless and sessions are stored in ElastiCache. Which solution should you implement?

A.Create a second Auto Scaling group, deploy to it, and then update Route 53 to point to the new group.
B.Change the deployment configuration to 'HalfAtATime' to update half the instances at a time.
C.Use CodeDeploy's blue/green deployment with an Application Load Balancer. Create a new Auto Scaling group for the green environment, deploy to it, and then shift traffic.
D.Increase the Auto Scaling group's minimum size to 4 so there are always extra instances.
AnswerC

Blue/green deployment provides zero downtime by keeping the old instances serving traffic until new ones are ready.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because CodeDeploy's 'Blue/Green' deployment creates new instances, shifts traffic, and allows rollback, achieving zero downtime. Option A is incorrect because 'HalfAtATime' still causes temporary capacity reduction. Option B is incorrect because increasing minimum size does not change deployment strategy.

Option D is incorrect because creating a new ASG and using DNS can work but is more complex and costly than CodeDeploy's built-in blue/green.

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93
MCQeasy

A company uses AWS CodeBuild to run unit tests and package a Node.js application. The buildspec.yml file includes commands to install dependencies using npm. The build is failing with the error: 'npm ERR! code EACCES'. How should a DevOps engineer resolve this issue?

A.Configure the CodeBuild project to use a custom VPC with a NAT gateway for internet access
B.Configure the buildspec to run npm install with sudo
C.Add a command to change the ownership of the node_modules directory to the current user
D.Use 'npm ci' instead of 'npm install' and ensure a package-lock.json is present
AnswerD

npm ci uses the lock file and avoids permission issues.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because the default CodeBuild user does not have write permissions to the default npm global directory. Using 'npm ci' does not require global write access and is also faster. Option A is wrong because running as root is not recommended and may cause other issues.

Option C is wrong because changing permissions is not necessary. Option D is wrong because CodeBuild environments have internet access by default.

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94
MCQmedium

A team is using AWS CodePipeline to deploy a serverless application using AWS Lambda and Amazon API Gateway. The pipeline has a source stage from CodeCommit, a build stage using CodeBuild (which runs unit tests and packages the Lambda code), and a deploy stage using AWS CloudFormation to update a stack that contains the Lambda function and API Gateway. The deployment stage uses a CloudFormation template that creates the Lambda function and API Gateway. Recently, the deployment stage started failing with the error: 'The API Gateway deployment already exists'. The team has not changed the template. What is the most likely cause?

A.The CloudFormation template uses a fixed physical name for the deployment resource, causing a conflict when CloudFormation tries to create a new deployment with the same name.
B.The Lambda function does not have permission to be invoked by API Gateway.
C.The account has reached the limit for API Gateway deployments.
D.The API Gateway stage name is being changed in the template.
AnswerA

Using a fixed name prevents CloudFormation from creating a new deployment; it should use a unique name or allow CloudFormation to generate one.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because CloudFormation creates a deployment resource with a unique ID each time; if the template does not change the logical ID, it may try to create a new deployment with the same name, causing a conflict. Option A is wrong because the stage name is not changed. Option B is wrong because permissions would cause a different error.

Option C is wrong because API Gateway limits are higher.

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95
MCQeasy

A developer is setting up AWS CodeBuild to compile a Go application. The build fails with the error: 'go: command not found'. What is the MOST likely cause?

A.The environment variables in buildspec.yml are incorrectly set
B.The build project does not have enough memory to compile Go code
C.The build environment image does not have the Go runtime installed
D.The CodeBuild service role does not have permission to access the S3 bucket for artifacts
AnswerC

CodeBuild images are version-specific; e.g., aws/codebuild/amazonlinux2-x86_64-standard:3.0 does not include Go by default.

Why this answer

The error 'go: command not found' indicates that the Go executable is not available in the build environment's PATH. CodeBuild uses a managed or custom build environment image (e.g., Ubuntu, Amazon Linux 2) to run build commands. If the image does not include the Go runtime, the shell cannot locate the 'go' binary, causing the build to fail.

The most direct fix is to select a build environment image that has Go pre-installed or to install Go in the install phase of the buildspec.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often blame environment variables (Option A) or permissions (Option D) because they are common build failures, but the root cause is the missing runtime in the build environment image — a fundamental prerequisite that CodeBuild does not automatically provide.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because environment variables in buildspec.yml control runtime behavior (e.g., GOPATH, GO111MODULE) but do not cause a 'command not found' error; the shell would still find the 'go' binary if it exists in PATH. Option B is wrong because insufficient memory leads to out-of-memory (OOM) kills or build timeouts, not a 'command not found' error; the Go compiler itself would be invoked before memory limits become an issue. Option D is wrong because S3 bucket permissions affect artifact uploads or cache retrieval, not the execution of build commands; the 'go' binary would still be found and run regardless of S3 access.

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96
MCQeasy

A company uses AWS CodeBuild to run unit tests as part of a CI pipeline. The buildspec.yaml file is located in the root of the source repository. The build takes 30 minutes to complete. The team wants to speed up the build by caching dependencies. Which approach should they take?

A.Download dependencies from the internet each time the build runs.
B.Mount an Amazon EFS file system to the build container and store dependencies there.
C.Configure the buildspec.yaml to enable local caching and specify the paths to cache.
D.Store dependencies in an AWS CodeCommit repository and clone it during the build.
AnswerC

Local caching stores dependencies in S3 and reuses them across builds, reducing build time.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because CodeBuild supports local caching, which stores the cache in an S3 bucket and speeds up builds by reusing downloaded dependencies. Option A is wrong because CodeBuild does not directly support EFS for caching. Option B is wrong because CodeCommit does not provide caching.

Option D is wrong because re-downloading dependencies defeats the purpose.

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97
MCQeasy

A DevOps engineer wants to automate the creation and cleanup of temporary development environments on AWS. Each environment consists of an Amazon EC2 instance and an Amazon RDS database. The environments should be isolated and cost-effective. Which AWS service is best suited for this?

A.AWS Elastic Beanstalk
B.AWS CloudFormation
C.AWS OpsWorks
D.Amazon ECS
AnswerB

CloudFormation can provision and tear down stacks easily.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because AWS CloudFormation allows you to define infrastructure as code and easily create and delete stacks. Option B is wrong because AWS OpsWorks is configuration management, not ideal for temporary environments. Option C is wrong because AWS Elastic Beanstalk is a PaaS service that manages the environment, but not as flexible for cleanup.

Option D is wrong because Amazon ECS is for containers, not EC2 and RDS directly.

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98
MCQeasy

Refer to the exhibit. The above IAM policy is attached to an IAM role used by a CI/CD pipeline. Which action is this policy allowing?

A.Start builds for any CodeBuild project in the account.
B.View details of any build in the account.
C.Start and view builds for the specified CodeBuild project.
D.Create and manage CodeBuild projects.
AnswerC

The policy allows StartBuild and BatchGetBuilds.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because the policy allows StartBuild and BatchGetBuilds on a specific CodeBuild project. Option B is wrong because CreateProject is not allowed. Option C is wrong because the resource is a project, not a build.

Option D is wrong because UpdateProject is not allowed.

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99
MCQhard

A company is using AWS CodePipeline with multiple stages that include source, build, and deploy. The pipeline uses an Amazon S3 bucket as the source action. The team notices that the pipeline is not automatically starting when new files are uploaded to the S3 bucket. The S3 bucket has versioning enabled. What is the most likely reason?

A.The S3 bucket is the same bucket used for the deploy action.
B.The pipeline is configured to detect changes based on object key, but the uploaded file uses the same key as an existing object.
C.The S3 bucket is not configured to send Amazon SQS notifications to CodePipeline.
D.The S3 bucket does not have versioning enabled.
AnswerB

CodePipeline triggers only when the object key changes or a new version is created; overwriting with same key may not trigger if versioning is not combined with proper event filtering.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because the S3 source action in CodePipeline only triggers on PUT operations that create new objects or versions; if the object key does not change, it may not trigger. Option A is wrong because versioning is actually required for S3 source actions. Option B is wrong because the pipeline action can use the same bucket as the source.

Option D is wrong because there is no specific SQS requirement for S3 source triggers.

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100
Multi-Selecthard

Which THREE actions can be performed using the AWS CLI for CodeDeploy? (Choose three.)

Select 3 answers
A.create-deployment
B.get-deployment
C.push-revision
D.list-deployment-groups
E.register-instance
AnswersA, B, D

The CLI can create a deployment.

Why this answer

The AWS CLI for CodeDeploy supports creating deployments, listing deployment groups, and getting deployment details. Creating an application is also possible, but the question asks for actions; pushing revision is done via S3 or GitHub, not directly via CLI. Registering instances is done via the console or AWS CLI with the register-on-premises-instance command, but that is for on-premises instances.

The three correct are create-deployment, list-deployment-groups, and get-deployment.

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101
MCQhard

An organization uses AWS CodeBuild to compile a Java application. The buildspec.yml includes a pre_build phase that runs unit tests. Recently, the build started failing with 'NoClassDefFoundError' for certain test dependencies, even though the pom.xml includes them. The build environment uses an Amazon Linux 2 Docker image. What is the MOST likely cause?

A.The CodeBuild project has a cache that is corrupted or out of sync. Clear the build cache.
B.The S3 bucket for artifacts has incorrect permissions. Update the bucket policy.
C.The CodeCommit repository is not pulling the latest code. Add a webhook to trigger builds on push.
D.The build environment does not have Maven installed. Install Maven in the buildspec.
AnswerA

Cached dependencies may be stale or incomplete, leading to NoClassDefFoundError.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because CodeBuild caches dependency directories to speed up builds; a corrupted or stale cache can cause missing classes. Option B is wrong because CodeCommit pull frequency is unrelated. Option C is wrong because S3 bucket permissions affect artifact upload, not dependency resolution.

Option D is wrong because Amazon Linux 2 includes Maven, but that would not cause a single class missing.

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102
MCQeasy

A DevOps team uses AWS CodePipeline to deploy a static website to Amazon S3. The pipeline has a source stage from CodeCommit, a build stage using CodeBuild that generates the website files, and a deploy stage that copies files to an S3 bucket. The team wants to add a manual approval step before the deploy stage. What should the engineer do?

A.Add an approval action in the pipeline stage before deploy
B.Use Amazon SNS to send a notification and rely on a Lambda function to resume
C.Add a CodeBuild action that waits for an SNS confirmation
D.Configure the S3 bucket to send an event to the pipeline after upload
AnswerA

Approval action pauses pipeline for manual sign-off.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because an approval action in CodePipeline pauses the pipeline until manually approved. Option A is incorrect because CodeBuild does not support manual approval. Option B is incorrect because S3 events cannot pause a pipeline.

Option D is incorrect because the pipeline needs to pause, not just notify.

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103
MCQhard

A company uses AWS CodeCommit, CodeBuild, and CodePipeline to manage a multi-module Java application. The pipeline has a single build stage that runs tests and packages the application into a JAR file. Recently, the team split the application into multiple microservices, each in its own CodeCommit repository. They want to create a single pipeline that can build all microservices in parallel and then deploy them together to an Amazon ECS cluster. The pipeline should trigger when any of the repositories receives a push. Currently, the pipeline is configured with a single source stage pointing to one repository. The build stage uses a single build project. The team wants to minimize changes to the existing pipeline structure. What should a DevOps engineer do to achieve this?

A.Create a separate pipeline for each microservice and use a webhook to trigger all pipelines on any push
B.Create a single source action that uses an S3 bucket as source, and have each repository push to the S3 bucket via a Lambda function
C.Create a single source action in CodePipeline that uses a Lambda function to pull from all repositories
D.Add multiple source actions in the source stage, each pointing to a different CodeCommit repository. Configure the build stage to use multiple input artifacts and update the build project to build all modules
AnswerD

Allows parallel source retrieval and single pipeline execution.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because CodePipeline supports multiple source actions in the same stage, and each source can have its own CodeCommit repository. Additionally, CodeBuild can be configured to use multiple input artifacts, allowing the build project to access all repositories. The pipeline trigger can be set to any source change.

Option A is wrong because a single source action cannot point to multiple repositories. Option B is wrong because webhooks would require separate pipelines. Option C is wrong because Lambda invocation adds complexity and is not the simplest approach.

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104
MCQeasy

A DevOps engineer needs to automate the creation of a CI/CD pipeline using infrastructure as code. Which AWS service is BEST suited to define and provision the pipeline resources?

A.AWS Elastic Beanstalk
B.AWS CodePipeline
C.AWS CloudFormation
D.AWS Service Catalog
AnswerC

CloudFormation allows you to define resources including pipelines in code.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because CloudFormation is IaC. Option A is wrong because CodePipeline is the pipeline itself, not IaC. Option C is wrong because EB is PaaS.

Option D is wrong because Service Catalog is for product portfolios.

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105
MCQeasy

A development team uses AWS CodeStar to set up a continuous delivery pipeline for a web application. The application is deployed to an Elastic Beanstalk environment. After a successful deployment, the team wants to automatically run integration tests against the deployed application. What is the SIMPLEST way to achieve this?

A.Configure the Elastic Beanstalk environment to run integration tests after deployment via a custom platform hook.
B.Use Amazon CloudWatch alarms to trigger a Lambda function that runs the tests.
C.Add a post-deployment script in the CodeDeploy appspec file to run tests.
D.Add a test stage in CodePipeline after the deploy stage that uses CodeBuild to run integration tests.
AnswerD

Adding a test stage in the pipeline is straightforward and automated.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because adding a test stage in CodePipeline after the deploy stage is the simplest approach. Option A is incorrect because manual testing is not automatic. Option B is incorrect because CloudWatch Alarms monitor metrics, not run tests.

Option C is incorrect because CodeDeploy is the deployment service, not a test runner.

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106
MCQeasy

A company uses AWS CodeBuild to run unit tests and package a Java application. The build process takes 15 minutes. The team wants to reduce build time by caching dependencies. Which approach should the engineer recommend?

A.Store the compiled dependencies in a separate CodeCommit repository and clone it during the build
B.Mount an Amazon EFS file system to the build container and persist the cache across builds
C.Use an Application Load Balancer in front of a private artifact repository
D.Configure CodeBuild to use Amazon S3 for cache storage and specify the cache directory in buildspec.yml
AnswerD

S3 cache can store Maven local repository and other dependencies, reducing download time on subsequent builds.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because CodeBuild natively supports Amazon S3 for cache storage, allowing you to persist dependency directories across builds. By specifying the cache type as S3 and the path to the dependency cache (e.g., /root/.m2 for Maven) in the buildspec.yml, subsequent builds can reuse previously downloaded dependencies, significantly reducing build time without additional infrastructure.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may confuse CodeBuild's lack of persistent local storage with the ability to mount external file systems like EFS, or they may think that cloning a repository is an efficient caching mechanism, when in fact CodeBuild's native S3 cache is the simplest and most effective solution for dependency caching.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because storing compiled dependencies in a separate CodeCommit repository and cloning them during each build adds network transfer and checkout overhead, which does not reduce build time and may even increase it. Option B is wrong because mounting an Amazon EFS file system to the build container is not supported by CodeBuild; CodeBuild does not allow persistent file system mounts across builds, and EFS is designed for concurrent access from multiple EC2 instances, not for CodeBuild's ephemeral containers. Option C is wrong because an Application Load Balancer in front of a private artifact repository addresses high availability and load distribution, not caching of dependencies within the build process; it does not reduce the time to download dependencies for each build.

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107
Multi-Selecteasy

A company uses AWS CodePipeline to deploy a static website to Amazon S3 and CloudFront. The pipeline currently uses CodeBuild to run tests and then deploys to an S3 bucket. The team wants to add a stage that invalidates the CloudFront cache after deployment. Which TWO actions achieve this?

Select 2 answers
A.Configure CodePipeline to directly invalidate CloudFront using a built-in action.
B.Create a CodePipeline stage with a deploy action to CloudFront.
C.Use CloudFront to automatically invalidate based on S3 events.
D.Use the AWS CLI command 'aws cloudfront create-invalidation' in a CodeBuild build step.
E.Add a Lambda function as a custom action in CodePipeline that calls the CloudFront invalidation API.
AnswersD, E

This can be run as a build action.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because CloudFront has an invalidation API. Option C is correct because CodePipeline can have a Lambda invocation as a stage action. Option B is not a native integration.

Option D is an alternative but not a CodePipeline action. Option E is not a standard action.

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108
Multi-Selecthard

A DevOps team uses AWS CloudFormation with nested stacks. They are experiencing stack update failures because changes to a nested stack cause resource conflicts. Which THREE best practices should they follow to manage nested stack updates? (Choose THREE.)

Select 3 answers
A.Set the stack update to disable rollback to allow debugging of failures.
B.Apply a stack policy to prevent updates to critical resources in the nested stacks.
C.Use the resource import feature to bring existing resources under CloudFormation management.
D.Use AWS CloudFormation change sets to review changes before executing updates.
E.Use DependsOn to ensure nested stacks are updated in a specific order.
AnswersB, C, D

Stack policies can protect resources from unintentional updates.

Why this answer

Options A, C, and D are correct. Using change sets previews changes; using stack policies protects critical resources; using resource import can avoid replacement. Option B is wrong because using DependsOn can cause circular dependencies.

Option E is wrong because disabling rollback hides failures.

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109
MCQhard

A company uses AWS CodePipeline with multiple stages: source, build, test, and deploy. The test stage takes 45 minutes to complete. Developers complain that the pipeline takes too long to provide feedback. The team wants to run tests in parallel across multiple environments. Which approach should be taken to reduce the pipeline execution time?

A.Increase the compute capacity of the test environment
B.Configure the test stage with parallel actions in CodePipeline
C.Use AWS CodeBuild batch builds with a single buildspec
D.Create multiple pipelines, each running a subset of tests
AnswerB

Parallel actions run simultaneously, reducing total time

Why this answer

Running the test stage in parallel across multiple environments can be achieved by using a parallel action group in CodePipeline, which will execute multiple test actions simultaneously. This reduces the overall time from sequential 45 minutes to the longest single test time. Option C is correct.

Option A is wrong because building multiple parallel pipelines would increase complexity and resource usage. Option B is wrong because increasing instance size may not improve parallelism. Option D is wrong because CodeBuild cannot parallelize within a single build project without multiple buildspecs.

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110
MCQhard

A company uses AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy a web application. The deployment fails with a '502 Bad Gateway' error. The developer checks the logs and sees that the application is running but returns errors. The environment uses a load balancer. What is the MOST likely cause?

A.The application source bundle is missing a required file.
B.The security group of the environment does not allow inbound HTTP traffic.
C.The environment's environment variables are misconfigured.
D.The application is not binding to the correct port or is crashing under load.
AnswerD

If the application does not respond, the load balancer returns 502.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because 502 errors from a load balancer often indicate that the target is not responding or is unhealthy. Option A is wrong because 502 is not related to missing files. Option B is wrong because security group misconfiguration would cause 503 or timeout.

Option D is wrong because environment variables cause application errors, not necessarily 502.

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111
MCQhard

A DevOps team uses AWS CodePipeline with an S3 source action and CodeBuild as a build provider. The pipeline has a manual approval step before deployment. Recently, the team noticed that the pipeline automatically starts when a new object is uploaded to the S3 bucket, even if the object is not the source code. They want to ensure that the pipeline only triggers on changes to the source code directory. What is the MOST efficient solution?

A.Use Amazon CloudWatch Events to create a custom rule that matches the source code path and triggers the pipeline.
B.Enable versioning on the S3 bucket and configure the pipeline to use the latest version.
C.Configure the S3 event notification to use a prefix filter that matches the source code directory.
D.Disable the S3 trigger and manually start the pipeline after each code commit.
AnswerC

S3 event notifications support prefix and suffix filtering, allowing precise triggers.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because S3 event notifications can be filtered by prefix and suffix, so setting a prefix filter to the source code directory ensures only changes to that directory trigger the pipeline. Option A is wrong because enabling versioning alone doesn't filter events. Option B is wrong because CloudWatch Events can filter but adds complexity and cost.

Option D is wrong because disabling automatic triggers would require manual intervention, which is not efficient.

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112
MCQmedium

A company uses AWS CloudFormation to manage infrastructure. They want to update a stack but need to ensure that critical database resources are not accidentally replaced during the update. What is the BEST way to protect these resources?

A.Use a CreationPolicy on the database resources.
B.Use a DeletionPolicy of Retain on the database resources.
C.Define a stack policy that denies updates to the database resources.
D.Set an UpdatePolicy with AutoScalingReplacingUpdate.
AnswerC

Stack policies control update permissions; a Deny on replace prevents replacement.

Why this answer

CloudFormation stack policies allow you to specify which resources can be updated or replaced. Setting a stack policy with Deny for the database resources prevents replacement.

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113
MCQhard

A company uses AWS CodeDeploy to deploy an application to an Auto Scaling group. The deployment fails with the error 'The overall deployment failed because too many individual instances failed deployment, too few healthy instances are available for deployment, or some instances in your deployment group are experiencing problems.' The deployment is set to 'AllAtOnce'. The application revision is a simple index.html. What is the most likely cause?

A.The CodeDeploy agent is not installed or running on the EC2 instances.
B.The IAM instance profile does not have permissions to download from Amazon S3.
C.The application revision is not a compressed archive.
D.The deployment configuration 'AllAtOnce' is incompatible with Auto Scaling groups.
AnswerA

Without the agent, instances cannot run deployment scripts.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because the CodeDeploy agent must be installed on each EC2 instance in the Auto Scaling group to receive and execute deployments. Option A is wrong because AllAtOnce means all instances deploy simultaneously. Option B is wrong because S3 permissions are needed but would cause a different error.

Option C is wrong because the revision is a single file, not a zip, but CodeDeploy requires a revision format; however, the error message suggests instance failure.

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114
MCQeasy

A team uses AWS CodePipeline to deploy a static website to Amazon S3. The pipeline has a deployment stage that uses AWS CodeDeploy to copy files to an S3 bucket. However, the deployment fails because the S3 bucket is not configured for static website hosting. What is the MOST likely cause of the failure?

A.The IAM role for CodeDeploy does not have permissions to write to the S3 bucket.
B.The S3 bucket does not have static website hosting enabled.
C.The S3 bucket is not configured as a public bucket.
D.AWS CodeDeploy cannot deploy to S3 buckets.
AnswerB

Static website hosting must be enabled to serve the website.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because CodeDeploy for S3 does not require bucket policy changes; the failure is due to missing static website hosting configuration. Option B is wrong because IAM roles should be fine. Option C is wrong because CodeDeploy does not need the bucket to be public.

Option D is wrong because S3 is not a deployment target for CodeDeploy? Actually CodeDeploy can deploy to EC2/On-premises/Lambda, not directly to S3. The question assumes CodeDeploy is used incorrectly. But the best answer is A as per typical issues.

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115
MCQmedium

A DevOps team uses AWS CodeDeploy to deploy an application to an Auto Scaling group. The deployment fails with a 'HealthCheckFailed' error. The application is running, but the health check endpoint returns HTTP 500. What should the team do to resolve this issue?

A.Change the deployment configuration to use AllAtOnce to avoid health checks.
B.Increase the health check grace period in the Auto Scaling group.
C.Disable the health check in the CodeDeploy deployment configuration.
D.Modify the application to handle the health check endpoint correctly and return HTTP 200.
AnswerD

The health check endpoint must return a successful status (e.g., 200) for CodeDeploy to consider the instance healthy.

Why this answer

Option A is correct: fix the application to return a healthy status. Option B ignores the issue. Option C does not fix the application.

Option D is not possible.

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116
Multi-Selecthard

Which THREE practices help ensure the security of a CI/CD pipeline that deploys to production? (Choose three.)

Select 3 answers
A.Integrate static code analysis and vulnerability scanning into the pipeline.
B.Require manual approval for all deployments to production.
C.Use IAM roles with least privilege for pipeline actions.
D.Store deployment credentials in the source repository for traceability.
E.Encrypt artifacts in transit and at rest using AWS KMS.
AnswersA, C, E

Automated scanning catches security issues early.

Why this answer

A: Encryption of artifacts in transit and at rest protects sensitive data. B: Scanning for vulnerabilities in dependencies and code helps prevent insecure deployments. D: Using least privilege IAM roles minimizes risk.

C is wrong because storing credentials in the source repository is insecure. E is wrong because manual approval alone does not ensure security; automated checks are also needed.

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117
MCQmedium

A company is implementing a CI/CD pipeline using AWS CodePipeline. The source code is stored in an AWS CodeCommit repository. The pipeline must automatically start whenever a change is pushed to any branch. Which configuration is required?

A.Add a branch creation trigger in CodeCommit that starts the pipeline.
B.Create a CloudWatch Events rule that matches CodeCommit push events and targets the CodePipeline pipeline.
C.Create an SNS topic and subscribe the pipeline to it, then configure CodeCommit to publish to the topic on push.
D.Configure the pipeline to poll the CodeCommit repository every few minutes.
AnswerB

CloudWatch Events can detect pushes to any branch and trigger the pipeline.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because CodePipeline can use Amazon CloudWatch Events to detect changes in CodeCommit repositories and trigger the pipeline. Option A is wrong because CodePipeline does not have a built-in trigger for branch creation. Option B is wrong because polling is not recommended and may not detect changes immediately.

Option C is wrong because CodeCommit does not send SNS notifications for pushes.

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118
MCQhard

Refer to the exhibit. An IAM policy is attached to a CodeBuild service role. The CodeBuild project is used to build code from a CodeCommit repository and output artifacts to an S3 bucket. However, the build fails with an error: 'Unable to download source from CodeCommit'. What is the missing permission?

A.Permissions to read from the CodeCommit repository.
B.Permissions to create CloudWatch Logs for build output.
C.Permissions to decrypt the KMS key used to encrypt artifacts.
D.Permissions to write to the S3 artifact bucket.
AnswerA

The policy lacks CodeCommit actions like codecommit:GitPull.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because the policy does not include CodeCommit actions like 'codecommit:GitPull' or 'codecommit:GetBranch'. Option A is wrong because the policy already has S3 permissions. Option B is wrong because KMS is not mentioned.

Option C is wrong because Logs permissions would be for CloudWatch, not for source download.

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119
MCQhard

A company uses AWS CodeCommit and wants to enforce that all commits to the 'main' branch are signed with a GPG key. Which steps should the DevOps engineer take to enforce this?

A.Create an IAM policy that denies git push actions unless the commit is signed.
B.Use the AWS CLI to verify commit signatures and reject pushes.
C.Enable CloudWatch Logs to monitor commits and trigger a Lambda to rollback.
D.Configure a pre-receive hook in CodeCommit to reject unsigned commits.
AnswerA

IAM policies can enforce signing using the 'codecommit:ReferenceType' and 'codecommit:SourceCommit' conditions.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because CodeCommit can use IAM policies with conditions to require signed commits. Option A is wrong because hooks are not supported in CodeCommit. Option C is wrong because the commit ID does not enforce signing.

Option D is wrong because CloudWatch Logs cannot enforce signing.

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120
MCQmedium

A company has a CI/CD pipeline using AWS CodePipeline that deploys a critical web application to an Auto Scaling group of EC2 instances. The pipeline includes a deploy stage using AWS CodeDeploy. Recently, the deployment failed because the new application version caused an increase in HTTP 500 errors. The operations team manually rolled back the deployment by redeploying the previous version. However, the team wants to automate this process so that future failed deployments are automatically rolled back. Additionally, they want to ensure that if the rollback itself fails, the system should alert the on-call engineer. Currently, the deployment group is configured with 'rollback when a deployment fails' disabled. The team has also set up a CloudWatch alarm that triggers when the HTTP 500 error rate exceeds a threshold. What should a DevOps engineer do to meet these requirements with minimal operational overhead?

A.Configure the deployment group to automatically roll back when a CloudWatch alarm is triggered, and also enable automatic rollback on deployment failure. Set up a CloudWatch alarm on the deployment group's failure metric to notify the on-call engineer
B.Create a CloudWatch Events rule that triggers an AWS Lambda function to roll back the deployment when the alarm state is reached, and configure the Lambda function to send an SNS notification on failure
C.Add a manual approval step before the deploy stage in CodePipeline and require the on-call engineer to approve or reject the deployment
D.Enable the 'rollback when a deployment fails' option in the deployment group and create a CloudWatch alarm on the deployment group's failure metric to notify the on-call engineer via Amazon SNS
AnswerA

Provides both automatic rollback on alarm and failure, and alerting on rollback failure.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because enabling automatic rollback on alarm in CodeDeploy will trigger a rollback when the CloudWatch alarm is in ALARM state. Additionally, enabling automatic rollback on deployment failure ensures that if the rollback itself fails, the deployment group status will indicate failure, and a CloudWatch alarm can be set on the deployment group's failure metric to alert the on-call engineer. Option A is wrong because it does not address rollback on alarm.

Option B is wrong because a manual approval step would require human intervention. Option D is wrong because SNS notification alone does not perform the rollback.

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121
MCQhard

A DevOps engineer creates a CloudFormation stack with the above template. After creation, they want to update the Lambda function code by uploading a new zip file to the S3 bucket and updating the S3Key property. However, the stack update fails because the Lambda function is published as a version and the alias points to that version. What is the most likely reason for the update failure?

A.The AWS::Lambda::Version resource is immutable and cannot be updated.
B.The alias must be deleted before updating the function code.
C.The IAM role does not have permission to update the function.
D.The function code cannot be updated because the S3 bucket is in a different region.
AnswerA

Versions are immutable; CloudFormation cannot update them.

Why this answer

Option A is correct. When you update a Lambda function's code, CloudFormation updates the $LATEST version. However, if you have created a version (AWS::Lambda::Version) and an alias pointing to that version, the alias does not automatically point to the new version.

CloudFormation tries to update the function code, but the version resource is immutable; once created, it cannot be updated. The update will fail because CloudFormation cannot modify the existing version. Option B is wrong because the alias does not need to be recreated, but the version does.

Option C is wrong because the function code can be updated, but the version resource blocks it. Option D is wrong because the IAM role is not the issue.

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122
Multi-Selecthard

An organization uses AWS CodeDeploy to deploy a web application to an Auto Scaling group. The deployment strategy is 'Blue/Green'. After a successful deployment, traffic is routed to the new instances. However, the application experiences errors because the new instances cannot connect to the database. Which TWO configuration changes could resolve this issue?

Select 2 answers
A.Update the security group of the new instances to allow outbound traffic to the database security group.
B.Modify the CodeDeploy deployment group to include the database security group.
C.Configure the database to use a DNS name that resolves to the new instances after the deployment.
D.Increase the number of instances in the Auto Scaling group.
E.Reinstall the CodeDeploy agent on the new instances.
AnswersA, C

The new instances likely have different security groups that are not permitted to access the database.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because the new instances need proper security group rules to access the database. Option D is correct because if the database uses an internal DNS that resolves to old instances, updating it ensures connectivity. Option A is wrong because increasing instance count does not fix connectivity.

Option C is wrong because CodeDeploy agent does not affect network connectivity. Option E is wrong because the deployment group is already configured; the issue is network.

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123
Multi-Selectmedium

Which TWO AWS services can be used as sources in an AWS CodePipeline? (Choose two.)

Select 2 answers
A.AWS Lambda
B.AWS CodeCommit
C.AWS CloudFormation
D.Amazon S3
E.AWS CodeBuild
AnswersB, D

CodeCommit is a source provider.

Why this answer

CodePipeline supports Amazon S3 and AWS CodeCommit as source providers. AWS CodeBuild is a build provider, not a source. AWS CloudFormation is a deploy provider.

AWS Lambda can be used as a custom action but not as a built-in source.

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124
MCQmedium

An IAM policy is attached to a user who needs to manually start a CodePipeline execution. The pipeline uses an S3 bucket named 'my-artifact-bucket' for artifacts. The user reports that they cannot start the pipeline. Which action is missing from the policy?

A.iam:PassRole
B.codepipeline:ListPipelines
C.codepipeline:GetPipelineExecution
D.s3:PutObject
AnswerB

The user likely needs to list pipelines in the console to find the pipeline.

Why this answer

The user needs to manually start a CodePipeline execution, which requires the `codepipeline:StartPipelineExecution` action. However, the question asks which action is missing from the policy, and the correct answer is `codepipeline:ListPipelines` because the user cannot even see the pipeline to start it. Without `codepipeline:ListPipelines`, the AWS Management Console or CLI will not return the pipeline in the list, preventing the user from selecting it to start execution.

The other actions are either not directly required for starting a pipeline or are unrelated to the permission needed to list pipelines.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often focus on the action needed to start the pipeline (`StartPipelineExecution`) and overlook the prerequisite `ListPipelines` action, which is required to discover the pipeline in the first place.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because `iam:PassRole` is needed when a service (like CodePipeline) needs to assume a role to access resources, but the user is manually starting the pipeline, not configuring it; the pipeline already has its role assigned. Option C is wrong because `codepipeline:GetPipelineExecution` is used to retrieve details about a specific execution, not to list or start pipelines. Option D is wrong because `s3:PutObject` is required for the pipeline to write artifacts to the S3 bucket, but the user is only starting the pipeline, not uploading artifacts directly.

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125
MCQmedium

A DevOps engineer wants to use AWS CodeDeploy to deploy an application to an Auto Scaling group. The deployment must ensure that only a certain percentage of instances are taken out of service at a time. Which deployment configuration supports this requirement?

A.CodeDeployDefault.OneAtATime
B.CodeDeployDefault.LambdaCanary10Percent5Minutes
C.CodeDeployDefault.AllAtOnce
D.CodeDeployDefault.LambdaLinear10PercentEvery1Minute
AnswerA

Takes out one instance at a time.

Why this answer

CodeDeployDefault.OneAtATime is the correct deployment configuration because it ensures that only one instance in the Auto Scaling group is taken out of service at a time, which directly satisfies the requirement of limiting the percentage of instances removed during deployment. This configuration is designed for EC2/On-Premises deployments and uses a fixed number of instances (one) rather than a percentage, making it ideal for gradual, safe rollouts.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse deployment configurations designed for Lambda functions (like Canary and Linear) with those for EC2/On-Premises, or they mistakenly think AllAtOnce limits the percentage of instances taken out of service, when in fact it takes all instances out at once.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option B is wrong because CodeDeployDefault.LambdaCanary10Percent5Minutes is a deployment configuration for AWS Lambda functions, not for EC2/On-Premises deployments to an Auto Scaling group; it shifts 10% of traffic to the new version and then waits 5 minutes before shifting the remaining 90%. Option C is wrong because CodeDeployDefault.AllAtOnce deploys to all instances simultaneously, which would take all instances out of service at once, violating the requirement to limit the percentage removed at a time. Option D is wrong because CodeDeployDefault.LambdaLinear10PercentEvery1Minute is also a Lambda-specific configuration that increments traffic by 10% every minute, and it does not apply to EC2/On-Premises deployments with Auto Scaling groups.

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126
Multi-Selectmedium

A DevOps engineer is designing a CI/CD pipeline for a microservices architecture. The pipeline must ensure that only code that passes security scanning can proceed to deployment. Which TWO actions should the engineer take? (Choose TWO.)

Select 2 answers
A.Use Amazon CloudWatch Events to trigger a rollback if vulnerabilities are found after deployment.
B.Add a security scanning stage in the pipeline after the build stage and before the deploy stage.
C.Use AWS CodeDeploy to perform security scanning during deployment.
D.Configure the pipeline to run security scanning only in the deploy stage.
E.Configure the pipeline to fail if the security scanning stage returns a non-zero exit code.
AnswersB, E

Gates deployment after security scan.

Why this answer

A and D are correct. A: Adding a security scanning stage in CodePipeline ensures scanning before deployment. D: Failing the pipeline if the scanning stage fails is standard practice.

B is incorrect because scanning after deployment defeats the purpose. C is incorrect because CodeDeploy does not perform scanning. E is incorrect because CloudWatch Events do not gate the pipeline.

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127
MCQmedium

A development team uses AWS CodeCommit as a source control repository. A developer accidentally pushed a commit that contains sensitive information (e.g., AWS access keys) to the main branch. The team wants to remove the sensitive data from the repository history completely. Which action should the engineer take?

A.Use 'git filter-branch' to rewrite the repository history and remove the sensitive file
B.Delete the repository and create a new one, then force push the remaining branches
C.Use 'git revert' to create a new commit that undoes the changes
D.Create a new branch from the commit before the sensitive data was added and merge it to main
AnswerA

Filter-branch can permanently delete the file from all commits.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because 'git filter-branch' (or the modern 'git filter-repo') rewrites the repository history by removing or replacing the sensitive file in every commit, effectively purging it from the entire Git history. This is the only native Git method that completely eliminates the sensitive data from all past commits, preventing anyone from retrieving it via 'git log' or by cloning the repository. After rewriting history, a force push to the remote CodeCommit repository is required to overwrite the remote branches.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates confuse 'git revert' (which adds a new commit but leaves the sensitive data in history) with 'git filter-branch' (which actually rewrites history to remove the data), leading them to choose a non-destructive but ineffective option.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option B is wrong because deleting the repository and creating a new one, then force pushing remaining branches, does not remove the sensitive data from the existing repository's history on the remote; the old repository would still exist in CodeCommit's trash or backup, and the sensitive data would remain accessible. Option C is wrong because 'git revert' creates a new commit that undoes the changes of a previous commit, but the sensitive data remains in the commit history and can still be viewed with 'git log' or by checking out the old commit. Option D is wrong because creating a new branch from the commit before the sensitive data was added and merging it to main does not remove the commit containing the sensitive data from the history; the merge will still include the sensitive commit in the ancestry, and the data remains accessible.

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128
MCQmedium

An organization uses AWS CodePipeline to deploy a web application. The pipeline includes a test stage that runs integration tests using AWS CodeBuild. The tests are flaky and sometimes fail due to external dependencies. The team wants to automatically retry failed tests before marking the stage as failed. How should this be achieved?

A.Add a manual approval step after the test stage.
B.Use Amazon CloudWatch Events to listen for test failures and trigger a new pipeline execution.
C.Configure the CodeBuild project to automatically retry the build on failure.
D.Create a second pipeline that triggers only on test failures.
AnswerC

CodeBuild supports automatic retries for failed builds.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because the CodeBuild retry feature can automatically retry the build on failure. Option A is wrong because a separate pipeline adds complexity. Option C is wrong because a manual approval doesn't retry tests.

Option D is wrong because CloudWatch Events can trigger a retry, but it requires custom logic; the built-in retry is simpler.

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129
MCQhard

A company is implementing a blue/green deployment strategy for a microservice hosted on AWS Elastic Beanstalk. They want to minimize downtime and be able to quickly roll back in case of issues. The deployment must support traffic shifting gradually. Which configuration should they use?

A.Use immutable updates with a fixed percentage of instances.
B.Use a blue/green deployment with a Classic Load Balancer and swap environment URLs.
C.Use rolling updates with a batch size of 100%.
D.Use canary deployments by configuring the Elastic Load Balancer listener rules.
AnswerB

Blue/green with URL swap allows gradual traffic shifting and quick rollback.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because Elastic Beanstalk blue/green deployments with a Classic Load Balancer allow traffic shifting by swapping environment URLs or adjusting DNS weights. Option A is wrong because rolling updates are not blue/green. Option C is wrong because immutable updates replace all instances at once, not gradual.

Option D is wrong because canary deployments are not natively supported by Elastic Beanstalk without additional tools.

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130
MCQmedium

Refer to the exhibit. A developer has the IAM policy shown. The developer can push code to the CodeCommit repository and start the pipeline. However, the pipeline fails at the Source stage with an access denied error. What additional permission is needed?

A.codecommit:GitPull
B.codecommit:GetBranch
C.codecommit:CreateCommit
D.codecommit:UploadArchive
AnswerA

CodePipeline needs GitPull to fetch the source code.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because CodePipeline needs permission to read from the source repository. The developer's policy allows GitPush but not codecommit:GitPull. Option A is wrong because codecommit:GetBranch is needed but not the main issue.

Option B is wrong because codecommit:CreateCommit is not needed. Option D is wrong because codecommit:UploadArchive is not a CodeCommit action.

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131
Multi-Selectmedium

A company is implementing a CI/CD pipeline using AWS CodePipeline. The pipeline has a source stage from GitHub, a build stage using AWS CodeBuild, and a deploy stage using AWS Elastic Beanstalk. The team wants to ensure that the pipeline only proceeds if the code quality checks pass and unit tests are successful. Which TWO actions should be taken?

Select 2 answers
A.Add a test stage in the pipeline with a CodeBuild action that runs code quality and unit tests.
B.Add a manual approval step before the deploy stage.
C.Modify the buildspec file of the build stage to include test commands and fail on test failures.
D.Configure the source stage to use an S3 bucket and add a test action.
E.Use AWS CloudFormation to create a test environment and run tests.
AnswersA, C

This adds automated testing in the pipeline.

Why this answer

Correct answers are A and C. A: Adding a test stage with CodeBuild allows running tests. C: CodeBuild can run both code quality checks and unit tests.

B is wrong because S3 is not a stage type for testing. D is wrong because a manual approval does not run tests. E is wrong because CloudFormation is for infrastructure, not testing.

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132
MCQhard

A company has a multi-account AWS environment using AWS Organizations. The DevOps team wants to deploy a CloudFormation stack set to all accounts in the organization. Which IAM permissions are REQUIRED for the stack set execution role?

A.iam:PassRole
B.sts:AssumeRole
C.cloudformation:CreateStackSet
D.iam:*
AnswerA

The execution role must pass the stack set admin role to CloudFormation.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because the stack set execution role must be able to pass the stack set's administrative role to CloudFormation in each target account. Option A is incorrect because 'cloudformation:CreateStackSet' is needed for the admin role, not the execution role. Option C is incorrect because 'iam:*' is overly permissive.

Option D is incorrect because 'sts:AssumeRole' is needed but not sufficient on its own.

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133
Multi-Selecthard

Which THREE steps are required to set up cross-account access for AWS CodePipeline using a customer-managed KMS key?

Select 3 answers
A.Give the target account's IAM role permission to encrypt with the KMS key.
B.Grant the pipeline's IAM role permission to use the KMS key via IAM policy.
C.Add the pipeline's IAM role ARN from the source account to the KMS key policy.
D.Create a KMS key in the target account.
E.Configure the artifact bucket policy to allow access from the pipeline's IAM role in the other account.
AnswersB, C, E

The role needs kms:Decrypt and kms:GenerateDataKey.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because the pipeline's IAM role must have an IAM policy granting it permission to use the customer-managed KMS key for encrypt and decrypt operations. This is necessary because CodePipeline uses the KMS key to encrypt artifacts stored in the artifact bucket, and the pipeline role needs explicit kms:Encrypt and kms:Decrypt permissions to interact with the key.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often think a KMS key must be created in the target account (Option D) or that the target account's role needs encrypt permissions (Option A), but in reality the key stays in the source account and the target account only requires decrypt access via the key policy.

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134
Multi-Selectmedium

Which TWO AWS services can be used to implement a blue/green deployment for an application running on Amazon EC2 instances?

Select 2 answers
A.AWS CloudFormation
B.AWS CodeDeploy
C.AWS Elastic Beanstalk
D.AWS OpsWorks
E.AWS CodeBuild
AnswersB, C

CodeDeploy has blue/green deployment support.

Why this answer

AWS CodeDeploy (Option B) is correct because it natively supports blue/green deployments for Amazon EC2 instances by allowing you to provision a new set of instances (the green environment), deploy the new application revision to them, and then shift traffic from the old (blue) environment to the new one. This is achieved through integration with an Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) or Auto Scaling groups, where CodeDeploy manages the lifecycle of instances and traffic routing during the deployment process.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse AWS CloudFormation (which can define the infrastructure for blue/green deployments) with the actual deployment service that orchestrates the traffic shift, leading them to select CloudFormation instead of CodeDeploy or Elastic Beanstalk.

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135
MCQeasy

Refer to the exhibit. A DevOps engineer created a CloudFormation stack that includes a Lambda function. The stack creation failed and rolled back. The error message for the Lambda function says 'Resource creation cancelled'. What is the most likely cause?

A.The Lambda function's IAM role does not have sufficient permissions.
B.The Lambda function's code is missing from the S3 bucket.
C.The stack rollback was triggered due to a failure in another resource, and the Lambda creation was cancelled.
D.The Lambda function creation timed out.
AnswerC

The rollback cancels any in-progress creations.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because 'Resource creation cancelled' typically occurs when the stack is in a rollback and the resource creation was cancelled. Option B is wrong because insufficient permissions would say 'AccessDenied'. Option C is wrong because a missing property would give a validation error.

Option D is wrong because the error message does not indicate a timeout.

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136
MCQeasy

A startup is using AWS CodePipeline to deploy a Python web application to AWS Elastic Beanstalk. The pipeline has a source stage (CodeCommit), a build stage (CodeBuild), and a deploy stage (Elastic Beanstalk). The build stage runs unit tests and creates a deployable zip file. The deploy stage uses the Elastic Beanstalk deploy provider. Recently, the deploy stage started failing with the error: 'The API call 'elasticbeanstalk:CreateApplicationVersion' failed with status 403.' The CodePipeline service role has the following permissions: 'elasticbeanstalk:DescribeApplications', 'elasticbeanstalk:DescribeEnvironments', 'elasticbeanstalk:UpdateEnvironment'. What should the DevOps engineer do to resolve the issue?

A.Change the deploy provider to use CodeDeploy instead of Elastic Beanstalk
B.Add 's3:PutObject' permission to the CodePipeline service role to allow it to upload the zip file to S3
C.Add the 'elasticbeanstalk:CreateApplicationVersion' and 'elasticbeanstalk:DeleteApplicationVersion' permissions to the CodePipeline service role
D.Update the Elastic Beanstalk environment's service role to allow CodePipeline to deploy
AnswerC

These permissions are required to create new application versions.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because the error indicates the pipeline role lacks permission to create an application version, which is necessary for deployment. Adding elasticbeanstalk:CreateApplicationVersion and related actions will resolve the issue. Option B is wrong because the Elastic Beanstalk service role is for the environment, not the pipeline.

Option C is wrong because the pipeline does not need S3 permissions for Elastic Beanstalk deployment. Option D is wrong because the error is about permissions, not environment configuration.

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137
MCQmedium

A company is using AWS CodePipeline to deploy a static website to Amazon S3. The pipeline includes a CodeBuild step that minifies JavaScript files. Recently, the build step started failing with an error: 'Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open 'index.js''. What is the most likely cause?

A.The source code was not uploaded to S3 correctly.
B.The S3 bucket policy is blocking access to the source code.
C.The CodeBuild project's working directory is not set to the source directory.
D.The buildspec.yml file is missing the 'phases' section.
AnswerC

CodeBuild runs in a default directory; if not changed, it may not find the file.

Why this answer

The error suggests that the working directory in CodeBuild is not set to the source directory where index.js resides. Option D is correct.

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138
MCQhard

A DevOps engineer is designing a CI/CD pipeline for a microservices application running on Amazon ECS with Fargate. The team wants to use a blue/green deployment strategy to minimize downtime. Which combination of AWS services and configurations should be used to implement this?

A.Use Amazon ECS service with a rolling update deployment controller
B.Create two separate ECS services and use Route 53 weighted routing to shift traffic
C.Use AWS CloudFormation with a custom resource to swap target group weights
D.Use CodeDeploy with an ECS compute platform and an Application Load Balancer
AnswerD

CodeDeploy's ECS blue/green deployment uses an ALB to shift traffic from the original task set to the new one.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because CodeDeploy with an ECS compute platform natively supports blue/green deployments for ECS services by orchestrating traffic shifting between two target groups behind an Application Load Balancer. This approach minimizes downtime by gradually routing traffic from the 'blue' (current) task set to the 'green' (new) task set, with built-in rollback capabilities and lifecycle hooks for validation.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse blue/green with rolling updates (Option A) or assume that manual traffic routing via Route 53 (Option B) or CloudFormation custom resources (Option C) can achieve the same orchestrated, automated deployment with health checks and rollback that CodeDeploy provides natively.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because a rolling update deployment controller in ECS replaces tasks incrementally without creating a separate environment for validation, which does not provide the zero-downtime traffic shifting characteristic of blue/green deployments. Option B is wrong because managing two separate ECS services with Route 53 weighted routing introduces DNS caching delays and lacks orchestrated traffic shifting, health checks, and rollback automation that CodeDeploy provides. Option C is wrong because AWS CloudFormation custom resources are not designed for real-time traffic shifting or deployment orchestration; they are intended for provisioning custom infrastructure logic, and swapping target group weights manually would not integrate with ECS deployment lifecycle hooks or automatic rollback.

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139
MCQhard

A company uses AWS CodeCommit as a source repository and wants to enforce that all commits are signed using GPG keys. The DevOps team configures a pre-receive hook in CodeCommit to validate commit signatures. However, the hook rejects all commits even when valid GPG signatures are present. What is the most likely cause?

A.The GPG key is not registered with the IAM user's profile.
B.CodeCommit does not support pre-receive hooks.
C.The hook script has a syntax error.
D.The repository is not configured to require signed commits.
AnswerB

Why this answer

AWS CodeCommit does not support pre-receive hooks. Pre-receive hooks are a feature of self-managed Git repositories (e.g., GitHub Enterprise, GitLab, or on-premises Git servers) that run on the server before accepting a push. CodeCommit uses IAM policies and repository-level settings (such as requiring signed commits via the 'git push --signed' flag) to enforce commit signing, not server-side hooks.

Therefore, any attempt to configure a pre-receive hook in CodeCommit will fail, causing all commits to be rejected.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates confuse CodeCommit with self-managed Git platforms (like GitHub or GitLab) that support pre-receive hooks, leading them to assume CodeCommit also supports this feature, when in fact CodeCommit uses a different enforcement mechanism (repository-level settings and IAM policies).

Why the other options are wrong

A

While GPG key must be associated with the IAM user, the issue is that CodeCommit doesn't support pre-receive hooks.

C

Even if the script is correct, CodeCommit does not execute pre-receive hooks.

D

CodeCommit does not have a built-in setting to require signed commits; the hook is the intended mechanism, but it's not supported.

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140
Multi-Selecthard

Which THREE components are required to set up a fully automated CI/CD pipeline for a static website hosted on Amazon S3 using AWS CodePipeline? (Choose THREE.)

Select 3 answers
A.An AWS CodeBuild project to run build commands (e.g., minification)
B.An Amazon CloudFront distribution for content delivery
C.An AWS CodeCommit repository to store the website source code
D.An S3 bucket configured for static website hosting as the deployment target
E.An AWS Lambda function to invalidate CloudFront cache
AnswersA, C, D

CodeBuild can process the source and produce optimized artifacts.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because AWS CodeBuild is required to execute build commands such as minification, bundling, or transpilation of static website assets before deployment. In a fully automated CI/CD pipeline, CodeBuild processes the source code from the repository and produces the deployable artifacts that are then uploaded to the S3 bucket.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse optional performance enhancements (CloudFront) or cache invalidation mechanisms (Lambda) as mandatory pipeline components, when the question specifically asks for the three required components to set up a fully automated CI/CD pipeline for a static website hosted on S3.

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141
MCQmedium

Refer to the exhibit. An IAM policy is attached to a CodePipeline service role. When the pipeline tries to start a CodeBuild project, it fails with an 'AccessDenied' error. The CodeBuild project uses a different service role (arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/CodeBuildServiceRole2). What is the MOST likely cause?

A.The policy has a condition on the s3 actions that is not satisfied.
B.The policy does not allow codebuild:StartBuild for the specific project.
C.The policy does not allow s3:GetObject on the artifact bucket.
D.The policy only allows iam:PassRole for a specific role ARN, but the CodeBuild project uses a different role.
AnswerD

The PassRole action is restricted to a specific role ARN.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because the policy explicitly allows iam:PassRole only for one specific role ARN. Since the CodeBuild project uses a different role, the pass role fails. Option A is incorrect because codebuild:StartBuild is allowed.

Option C is incorrect because the policy allows s3:GetObject. Option D is incorrect because the policy does not have a condition on s3 actions.

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142
MCQhard

Refer to the exhibit. An IAM policy is attached to a role used by a CI/CD system. The policy is intended to allow starting the pipeline 'MyPipeline' from the same account. However, the CI/CD system receives an 'AccessDenied' error when trying to start the pipeline. What is the problem?

A.The Allow statement does not specify the correct pipeline ARN.
B.The policy needs an additional Allow for 'codepipeline:GetPipeline' to start the pipeline.
C.The role does not have permission to pass the policy to the CI/CD system.
D.The Deny statement with the 'aws:SourceAccount' condition denies access if the condition key is not present in the request.
AnswerD

If the condition key is absent, the Deny applies, causing AccessDenied.

Why this answer

Option B is correct. The Deny statement with a condition denies all codepipeline actions if the source account is not 123456789012. However, the Allow statement allows StartPipelineExecution for the specific pipeline.

But the Deny statement with a condition that does not match (i.e., if the source account is exactly 123456789012, the condition is false, so the Deny does not apply). Wait, let's analyze: The Deny statement applies when the source account is NOT 123456789012. So if the source account IS 123456789012, the Deny does not apply, and the Allow should work.

But the error suggests AccessDenied. The issue could be that the policy also needs to allow other actions? Actually, looking closely: The Allow only allows StartPipelineExecution, but maybe the pipeline execution requires other actions? No, StartPipelineExecution should be sufficient. Another possibility: The Deny statement with condition might be interpreted incorrectly.

Actually, the Deny with StringNotEquals will deny if the source account is not equal to the specified account. So if the source account is 123456789012, the condition is false, so the Deny does not apply. So the Allow should work.

But the error persists. Perhaps the issue is that the policy also needs to allow 'codepipeline:GetPipeline' or something? However, the most likely cause is that the Deny statement is too broad: it denies all codepipeline actions for any resource, but only if the source account is not the one specified. If the source account is correct, the Deny doesn't apply.

So why denial? Maybe the condition key 'aws:SourceAccount' is not set for the request? If the condition key is not present, then StringNotEquals evaluates to false (since not present is not equal), so the Deny would apply. That is a common pitfall: when the condition key is absent, the condition evaluates to false, causing the Deny to apply. So Option B is correct: the condition key 'aws:SourceAccount' may not be present in the request, causing the Deny to apply.

Option A is wrong because the Allow is not blocked by Deny if condition met. Option C is wrong because there is no explicit deny for GetPipeline. Option D is wrong because the policy is attached to the role, not user.

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143
MCQmedium

A company uses AWS CodeBuild to compile Java applications. The builds often fail due to insufficient memory. The buildspec currently specifies 'compute-type: BUILD_GENERAL1_SMALL'. What is the most cost-effective solution to resolve the memory issues without changing the build logic?

A.Change the compute-type to 'BUILD_GENERAL1_MEDIUM' or 'BUILD_GENERAL1_LARGE' in the buildspec.
B.Enable Amazon S3 caching for the build artifacts to reduce memory usage.
C.Split the build into multiple parallel CodeBuild actions in the pipeline, each compiling a subset of the code.
D.Set the environment variable 'MEMORY_OVERPROVISION=2' in the buildspec.
AnswerA

Larger compute types provide more memory.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because increasing the compute type to a larger size provides more memory. Option A is wrong because enabling local caching does not increase memory. Option B is wrong because CodeBuild does not support memory overprovisioning.

Option D is wrong because using multiple build environments in parallel does not help a single build's memory needs.

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144
MCQeasy

A development team wants to automate infrastructure provisioning using AWS CloudFormation. Which tool is specifically designed to manage CloudFormation templates as part of a deployment pipeline?

A.AWS CodePipeline
B.AWS CodeCommit
C.AWS CodeBuild
D.AWS CodeDeploy
AnswerA

CodePipeline orchestrates build, test, and deploy actions including CloudFormation.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because AWS CodePipeline natively integrates with CloudFormation to deploy infrastructure. Option A is wrong because AWS CodeCommit is a source control service. Option B is wrong because AWS CodeBuild is a build service.

Option D is wrong because AWS CodeDeploy is for deploying applications, not infrastructure.

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145
Multi-Selecteasy

Which TWO actions should a DevOps engineer take to ensure that an AWS CodeBuild project can access a private Amazon S3 bucket to download build artifacts? (Choose two.)

Select 2 answers
A.Generate an access key and secret key for the CodeBuild project to use in the buildspec
B.Add a bucket policy that explicitly allows access from the CodeBuild project's IAM role ARN
C.Configure the CodeBuild project to run in a VPC with an S3 VPC endpoint
D.Attach an IAM role to the CodeBuild project with s3:GetObject permissions for the bucket
E.Make the S3 bucket publicly readable
AnswersB, D

Ensures the bucket allows access from the role.

Why this answer

Options A and D are correct. The CodeBuild project needs an IAM role with permissions to access the S3 bucket, and the S3 bucket policy must allow access from that role. Option B is wrong because VPC configuration is not required for S3 access.

Option C is wrong because the bucket does not need to be public. Option E is wrong because CodeBuild does not use access keys.

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146
MCQhard

A DevOps engineer is designing a CI/CD pipeline for a microservices architecture. The pipeline must deploy to Amazon ECS using blue/green deployments. The team wants to automatically roll back if the new deployment fails health checks. Which combination of AWS services and configurations should the engineer use?

A.Use AWS CodeDeploy with an ECS compute platform, configure a CloudWatch alarm for health checks, and enable automatic rollback.
B.Use AWS CloudFormation with a custom resource to perform blue/green deployment.
C.Use AWS Elastic Beanstalk with blue/green environment swapping.
D.Use AWS CodePipeline with ECS deployment action and manual approval for rollback.
AnswerA

CodeDeploy supports blue/green deployments for ECS and can automatically roll back based on CloudWatch alarms.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because CodeDeploy with ECS supports blue/green deployments and automatic rollback on CloudWatch alarm. Option A is wrong because CodePipeline alone does not handle deployment rollback. Option B is wrong because CloudFormation does not natively support blue/green for ECS.

Option C is wrong because Elastic Beanstalk is for web apps, not ECS.

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147
Multi-Selecthard

A DevOps team uses AWS CodePipeline with an Amazon S3 source action. The pipeline deploys a static website to an S3 bucket. The engineer wants to ensure that only approved changes are deployed to production. The team uses Git feature branches and wants to deploy only when a pull request is merged to the main branch. Which THREE actions should the engineer take?

Select 3 answers
A.Configure a CloudWatch Events rule to start the pipeline when a CodeCommit pull request is merged
B.Use an S3 source and configure event notifications for all object uploads
C.Use AWS CodeCommit as the source and configure a trigger for pull request merge events
D.Set the pipeline to execute on every push to any branch
E.Add an approval stage in the pipeline that requires manual sign-off
AnswersA, C, E

Another way to trigger on merge.

Why this answer

Options A, C, and D are correct. Option A: Use CodeCommit as the source and configure a trigger for pull request merge events. Option C: Add a manual approval stage before deployment.

Option D: Use a CloudWatch Events rule to trigger the pipeline on pull request merge. Option B is incorrect because it would deploy from any branch. Option E is incorrect because it does not enforce approval.

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148
MCQhard

A company runs a critical application on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. The application is deployed using AWS CodeDeploy with an in-place deployment configuration. During a recent deployment, the deployment failed because the new application version caused a health check failure, and CodeDeploy did not automatically roll back. What should the engineer do to ensure automatic rollback on health check failure?

A.Set up an EC2 instance lifecycle hook to trigger a rollback script when the instance enters a pending state
B.Configure an Amazon SQS queue to monitor health checks and invoke a rollback Lambda function
C.Enable automatic rollback in the CodeDeploy deployment group and set up a CloudWatch alarm for the ALB health check
D.Modify the Auto Scaling group to replace unhealthy instances automatically
AnswerC

CodeDeploy can be configured to roll back when a CloudWatch alarm (e.g., based on health check metrics) is in ALARM state.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because CodeDeploy can automatically roll back a deployment when a CloudWatch alarm, such as one monitoring ALB health check failures, enters the ALARM state. By enabling automatic rollback in the deployment group and associating the CloudWatch alarm, the deployment will revert to the previous version as soon as the health check fails, without manual intervention.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often assume Auto Scaling group health checks or lifecycle hooks can handle deployment rollbacks, but they operate at the instance level and do not revert application code, whereas CodeDeploy's native automatic rollback with CloudWatch alarms is the correct, integrated solution.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because EC2 instance lifecycle hooks are designed to pause an instance during launch or termination for custom actions, not to trigger rollbacks based on health check failures; they operate at the instance lifecycle level, not the deployment level. Option B is wrong because SQS queues are message brokers and cannot directly monitor health checks or invoke rollbacks; while a Lambda function could be triggered, this approach adds unnecessary complexity and is not the native, supported mechanism for automatic rollback in CodeDeploy. Option D is wrong because Auto Scaling group health checks replace unhealthy instances but do not revert the application version; they would launch a new instance with the same failing code, perpetuating the failure rather than rolling back the deployment.

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149
MCQhard

A team uses AWS CodePipeline to deploy a serverless application using AWS SAM. The pipeline includes a build stage that runs 'sam build' and a deploy stage that runs 'sam deploy'. The deployment fails with an error: 'The security token included in the request is invalid.' What is the MOST likely cause?

A.The build stage did not produce the correct output artifact.
B.The SAM template has a syntax error.
C.The IAM role used in the deploy stage does not have permission to assume the CloudFormation execution role.
D.The 'sam deploy' command is missing the '--capabilities' parameter.
AnswerC

The error indicates an invalid token, often due to role assumption failure.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because 'sam deploy' requires valid AWS credentials; if the IAM role used by CodePipeline has insufficient permissions, it cannot assume the deployment role. Option A is incorrect because the build stage succeeded. Option C is incorrect because the template is already built.

Option D is incorrect because the error points to credentials, not a missing parameter.

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150
MCQmedium

A team uses AWS CodeBuild to run unit tests. They notice that builds are taking longer than expected. The build environment includes many dependencies that are downloaded every time. Which change would MOST reduce build time?

A.Enable local caching for dependencies.
B.Store dependencies in an Amazon S3 bucket and configure CodeBuild to use S3 cache.
C.Increase the compute type to a larger instance.
D.Use Amazon EFS to share dependencies across builds.
AnswerB

S3 cache allows dependencies to be stored and reused across builds, significantly reducing download time.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because dependency caching avoids re-downloading. Option A is wrong because more CPU may not help if network is bottleneck. Option B is wrong because EFS is not supported.

Option C is wrong because local cache is limited.

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