Quick Answer
The answer is AWS CodePipeline and AWS CodeBuild, as these two services together form the core of a SAM-based deployment pipeline. CodePipeline orchestrates the entire workflow—source, build, deploy, test, and manual approval—by natively supporting sequential stages and integrating with AWS SAM for serverless deployments. CodeBuild executes the SAM build, package, and test commands, handling the compilation and packaging of the serverless application before deployment. On the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional DOP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how to combine CodePipeline’s stage orchestration with CodeBuild’s build execution, often appearing as a multi-select question where a common trap is choosing AWS CodeDeploy for the deploy stage instead of relying on SAM’s built-in deployment capabilities. Remember the mnemonic: “Pipeline orchestrates, CodeBuild compiles—SAM handles the rest.”
This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of sdlc automation. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A DevOps engineer is designing a deployment pipeline for a serverless application using AWS SAM. The pipeline must include the following stages: source, build, deploy to a development environment, run integration tests, and promote to production after manual approval. Which AWS services and features should be used to implement this pipeline? (Choose two.)
AWS CodeDeploy for deploying the SAM application.
Why wrong: SAM applications are deployed via CloudFormation, not CodeDeploy.
AWS CodeCommit to build the SAM application.
Why wrong: CodeCommit is a source control service, not a build service.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
AWS CodePipeline to orchestrate the pipeline stages.
AWS CodePipeline is the correct service for orchestrating the pipeline stages because it provides native support for defining source, build, deploy, test, and manual approval stages in a sequential workflow. It integrates directly with AWS SAM and can trigger builds and deployments based on source code changes, making it the ideal orchestrator for this multi-stage pipeline.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
AWS CodeDeploy for deploying the SAM application.
Why it's wrong here
SAM applications are deployed via CloudFormation, not CodeDeploy.
AWS CodeCommit to build the SAM application.
Why it's wrong here
CodeCommit is a source control service, not a build service.
Option-by-option analysis
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The DOP-C02 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
Why this is wrong here
SAM applications are deployed via CloudFormation, not CodeDeploy.
Why this is wrong here
CodeCommit is a source control service, not a build service.
Analysis generated from the official DOP-C02blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse AWS CodeDeploy with the deployment mechanism for SAM applications, not realizing that SAM deployments are actually handled through AWS CloudFormation (via CodeBuild or CodePipeline), not CodeDeploy directly.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, AWS CodePipeline uses a series of stages, each containing actions that can invoke other services like CodeBuild for build and test, or CloudFormation for deployment. For SAM applications, the build stage typically runs 'sam build' to transform the template and 'sam package' to upload artifacts to S3, while the deploy stage uses CloudFormation change sets to apply infrastructure changes. A real-world scenario where this matters is when you need to run integration tests against a deployed development environment before promoting to production, which CodePipeline can orchestrate by adding a test stage after deployment.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
SDLC Automation — This question tests SDLC Automation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS CodePipeline to orchestrate the pipeline stages. — AWS CodePipeline is the correct service for orchestrating the pipeline stages because it provides native support for defining source, build, deploy, test, and manual approval stages in a sequential workflow. It integrates directly with AWS SAM and can trigger builds and deployments based on source code changes, making it the ideal orchestrator for this multi-stage pipeline.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This DOP-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the DOP-C02 exam.
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