SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
A company uses AWS Organizations with 100 accounts. They want to restrict which AWS services can be used in the development OU. Which TWO steps should they take?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates choose AWS Config rules (option C) thinking detective controls can prevent actions, but Config is reactive and cannot block service usage; only SCPs or IAM permissions boundaries can proactively restrict services.
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 an SCP with an Allow effect for allowed services.
Service control policies (SCPs) are the correct mechanism to centrally restrict which AWS services can be used across accounts in an AWS Organization. An SCP with an Allow effect explicitly permits only the specified services, while an SCP with a Deny effect blocks the specified services; both approaches achieve the goal of restricting service usage at the OU level. SCPs apply to all IAM users, roles, and root users in the member accounts, making them the appropriate tool for this requirement.
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 AWS CloudFormation StackSets to enforce service usage.
Why it's wrong here
Does not prevent usage outside CloudFormation.
- ✓
Use an SCP with an Allow effect for allowed services.
Why this is correct
Explicitly allows only specified services.
- ✗
Use AWS Config rules to detect disallowed services.
Why it's wrong here
Reactive, not preventive.
- ✗
Use IAM policies in each account to deny services.
Why it's wrong here
Not centrally managed.
- ✓
Use an SCP with a Deny effect for services not allowed.
Why this is correct
Denies services at the OU level.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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