SAP-C02 Rolling update Practice Question
A company runs a critical application on EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. They want to ensure that during a patching cycle, the application remains available and no requests are dropped. Which TWO strategies should they implement? (Choose TWO.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse rolling updates with blue/green deployments or think lifecycle hooks are only for instance launch, not termination.
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
✓
Perform a rolling update using a batch size of 50% with a pause time.
(rolling update with a batch size of 50% and pause time) is correct because it gradually replaces instances, allowing the application to remain available during patching. Option D (lifecycle hook for custom action before termination) is correct because it can drain connections gracefully before an instance is terminated. Option A is wrong because increasing desired capacity does not guarantee no dropped requests during patching and may cause additional cost. Option B is wrong because stopping all instances simultaneously causes downtime. Option E is wrong because Amazon Inspector only identifies vulnerabilities but does not apply patches.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increase the desired capacity of the Auto Scaling group before patching.
Why it's wrong here
This adds capacity but does not gracefully handle connection draining.
- ✗
Stop all instances at the same time to apply patches consistently.
Why it's wrong here
Stopping all instances simultaneously causes downtime.
- ✓
Perform a rolling update using a batch size of 50% with a pause time.
Why this is correct
Rolling update ensures that only a portion of instances are replaced at a time.
- ✓
Use an Auto Scaling lifecycle hook to wait for a custom action before terminating instances.
Why this is correct
Lifecycle hooks allow draining connections before termination.
- ✗
Use Amazon Inspector to automatically patch instances.
Why it's wrong here
Inspector identifies vulnerabilities but does not patch.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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