SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
A company uses AWS Organizations to manage multiple accounts. The central team wants to deploy a CloudFormation template that creates an S3 bucket with default encryption in every member account. Which THREE steps are required to accomplish this?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse SCPs with IAM policies, assuming SCPs can grant permissions to CloudFormation, when in fact SCPs only restrict permissions and the actual execution relies on an IAM role assumed by StackSets.
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
✓
Write a CloudFormation template that includes an S3 bucket resource with default encryption enabled.
The CloudFormation template must define the S3 bucket resource with default encryption enabled (e.g., using the `BucketEncryption` property with `AES256` or `aws:kms`) to meet the requirement. Without this configuration in the template, the deployed bucket would not have default encryption, failing the central team's objective.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create an IAM role in each member account that allows CloudFormation to create resources.
Why it's wrong here
StackSets use a service-linked role or a role created in the target accounts automatically.
- ✗
Create an SCP that allows CloudFormation to create S3 buckets.
Why it's wrong here
SCPs are not needed for StackSet deployments.
- ✓
Write a CloudFormation template that includes an S3 bucket resource with default encryption enabled.
Why this is correct
The template defines the resources to be created.
- ✓
Create a CloudFormation StackSet in the management account.
Why this is correct
StackSets are the mechanism to deploy across accounts.
- ✓
Configure the StackSet with the target accounts and regions, and specify an IAM role for execution.
Why this is correct
This enables CloudFormation to assume roles in target accounts.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 1,660 original SAP-C02 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.