SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity
A company wants to allow developers to launch EC2 instances only in the us-east-1 Region. They have a single AWS account. What is the simplest way to enforce this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse SCPs with IAM policies, assuming SCPs can be applied to a standalone account, but SCPs require AWS Organizations and are not available for a single account without an organization.
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
✓
Create an IAM policy that denies EC2 actions unless the region is us-east-1.
An IAM policy with a Deny effect for ec2:RunInstances when the region is not us-east-1 directly prevents developers from launching EC2 instances in any other region. This is the simplest approach as it uses native IAM condition keys (aws:RequestedRegion) without requiring additional services or complex configurations.
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 policy that denies EC2 actions unless the region is us-east-1.
Why this is correct
IAM policy directly restricts user actions.
- ✗
Use AWS Config to terminate instances in other Regions.
Why it's wrong here
Reactive; instances can be launched and incur cost.
- ✗
Apply an SCP to the account.
Why it's wrong here
SCPs are for Organizations, not single accounts.
- ✗
Configure the default VPC in us-east-1 only.
Why it's wrong here
Does not prevent launching in other Regions via other VPCs.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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