SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
A company is designing a new solution to securely store and manage secrets for applications running on AWS. The secrets include database credentials, API keys, and OAuth tokens. The solution must automatically rotate secrets and integrate with AWS services like Amazon RDS. Which AWS service should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store (which can store secrets but lacks native rotation) with AWS Secrets Manager (which is designed specifically for automatic secret rotation and deep AWS service integration), leading them to choose Parameter Store for its lower cost and familiarity.
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 secrets and configure automatic rotation.
AWS Secrets Manager is purpose-built for securely storing, managing, and automatically rotating secrets such as database credentials, API keys, and OAuth tokens. It provides native integration with Amazon RDS, enabling automatic rotation of RDS credentials without custom code, which directly meets the requirements for automatic rotation and AWS service integration.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Store secrets in AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store with a SecureString parameter type.
Why it's wrong here
Parameter Store does not provide automatic secret rotation.
- ✗
Use AWS CloudHSM to store secrets as keys.
Why it's wrong here
CloudHSM is for HSM-based key management, not for secrets like credentials.
- ✗
Use AWS Key Management Service (KMS) to store secrets as encrypted data keys.
Why it's wrong here
KMS manages encryption keys, not secrets; Secrets Manager is the correct service.
- ✓
Use AWS Secrets Manager to store secrets and configure automatic rotation.
Why this is correct
Secrets Manager is purpose-built for secrets with rotation and native RDS integration.
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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.