SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
A company is using AWS Organizations with multiple accounts. The central IT team wants to deploy a set of common VPCs in each account using AWS CloudFormation StackSets. The StackSets must be managed from the management account. Which THREE permissions are required for the StackSets to successfully deploy stacks into member accounts?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse the optional self-managed execution role (option D) as a requirement, when in fact service-managed StackSets eliminate the need for manual role creation in member accounts.
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
✓
The management account must have an IAM role (StackSetsAdminRole) with permissions to create stack instances in member accounts.
StackSets require the management account to have an IAM role (commonly named 'AWSCloudFormationStackSetAdministrationRole') that grants permission to create and manage stack instances in member accounts. This role is assumed by CloudFormation to perform operations across accounts, and it must have a trust policy allowing the CloudFormation service to assume it.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The management account must have an IAM role (StackSetsAdminRole) with permissions to create stack instances in member accounts.
Why this is correct
This is the admin role that assumes the execution role in member accounts.
- ✗
The management account must have an AWS Organizations SCP that allows CloudFormation StackSets operations.
Why it's wrong here
SCPs are not required for StackSets; the necessary permissions are handled by IAM.
- ✓
The execution role in member accounts must have permissions to create the resources defined in the CloudFormation template (e.g., VPC, subnets).
Why this is correct
The execution role needs permissions to actually create the resources.
- ✗
Each member account must have a self-managed IAM role named 'AWSCloudFormationStackSetExecutionRole' with a trust policy allowing the management account to assume it.
Why it's wrong here
Self-managed roles are not required; StackSets can use service-managed permissions with automatic role creation.
- ✓
The management account must have permission to assume the execution role in member accounts (via IAM trust policy).
Why this is correct
The admin role must be trusted by the execution role.
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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.