SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is deploying a containerized application on Amazon EKS. The application needs to access an Amazon RDS database. The security team requires that database credentials be rotated automatically and never stored in plaintext. Which solution should the architect use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store with Secrets Manager, assuming Parameter Store supports automatic rotation, but Parameter Store lacks native rotation capabilities for RDS credentials, making Secrets Manager the only correct choice for automated rotation.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use AWS Secrets Manager to store and rotate credentials, and grant the EKS pod access via an IAM role
AWS Secrets Manager is the correct choice because it natively supports automatic rotation of RDS database credentials via a built-in Lambda rotation function, and it integrates with IAM roles to grant EKS pods secure access without storing secrets in plaintext. By using an IAM role for the pod (via IRSA), the application can retrieve credentials at runtime from Secrets Manager, ensuring compliance with the security team's requirements.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use AWS Secrets Manager to store and rotate credentials, and grant the EKS pod access via an IAM role
Why this is correct
Secrets Manager natively rotates RDS credentials on a schedule, and an IAM role bound to the pod's service account supplies temporary credentials, so no plaintext secret is stored. This satisfies the stem's automatic rotation and no-plaintext requirements.
- ✗
Use IAM database authentication for RDS and assign an IAM role to the pod
Why it's wrong here
IAM database authentication issues short-lived tokens tied to the IAM role, so no password rotation occurs and RDS still requires a master credential for some operations. It is tempting because it removes stored passwords entirely, which suits workloads needing temporary, token-based access rather than automatic credential rotation.
- ✗
Hardcode the credentials in the container image and rotate the image regularly
Why it's wrong here
Credentials baked into the image are stored in plaintext and only change when the image is rebuilt and redeployed, so rotation is neither automatic nor secret-safe. It is tempting because image rebuilds feel like a rotation mechanism, and immutable images suit stateless deployments where configuration is versioned.
- ✗
Store credentials in AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store and grant the EKS pod access via an IAM role
Why it's wrong here
Parameter Store holds credentials as plaintext unless encrypted, and it performs no automatic rotation of RDS master passwords; rotation requires Secrets Manager. It is tempting because Parameter Store centralises configuration and integrates with IAM, which suits storing non-rotating configuration values and feature flags.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SAP-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 SAP-C02 exam.