SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Question
A company runs a stateful web application on EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. The application uses a shared file system mounted on each instance. The company wants to minimize downtime during deployments. What should they use?
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 a rolling update with a lifecycle hook to gracefully handle connections and unmount the file system before instance termination.
A rolling update with a lifecycle hook (Option B) is the best approach for minimizing downtime in a stateful web application using a shared file system. The lifecycle hook allows the instance to gracefully handle existing connections and unmount the file system before termination, ensuring no data corruption or abrupt disconnection. This reduces downtime compared to other methods. Option A (in-place update without hooks) risks disrupting active connections. Option C (blue/green deployment) may not work seamlessly with stateful applications due to shared storage. Option D (terminate all instances) causes full downtime.
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 an in-place update without any hooks.
Why it's wrong here
May cause interruption.
- ✓
Use a rolling update with a lifecycle hook to gracefully handle connections and unmount the file system before instance termination.
Why this is correct
Lifecycle hooks allow graceful shutdown.
- ✗
Perform a blue/green deployment.
Why it's wrong here
Blue/green requires two environments and might be complex for stateful apps.
- ✗
Terminate all instances and launch new ones.
Why it's wrong here
Causes downtime.
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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.