Quick Answer
The answer is AWS Backup, as it is the only AWS service purpose-built for centralized backup management across AWS accounts, automating EBS volume backups based on tags while enforcing retention policies and failure notifications. AWS Backup achieves this through a central backup administrator account that creates backup plans with lifecycle rules, applies them to resources across multiple accounts via AWS Organizations, and integrates with Amazon CloudWatch Events and Amazon SNS to alert on failures. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this question tests your understanding of cross-account backup governance versus point solutions like manual snapshots or Lambda scripts—a common trap is to overcomplicate the answer with custom automation when AWS Backup natively handles tag-based policies and retention. Remember the memory tip: “Backup is the one-stop shop for cross-account EBS snapshots with tags and alerts.”
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design solutions for organizational complexity. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company wants to centrally manage backups for Amazon EBS volumes across multiple AWS accounts. They need a solution that can automatically back up volumes based on tags, retain backups according to a policy, and send notifications on failures. Which AWS service should they use?
AWS CloudFormation StackSets
Why wrong: CloudFormation is for provisioning, not backup management.
Amazon RDS automated backups
Why wrong: RDS backups are for RDS instances only.
AWS Backup
AWS Backup provides centralized backup management across accounts.
Amazon S3 lifecycle policies
Why wrong: S3 lifecycle is for object storage, not EBS volumes.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
AWS Backup
AWS Backup is the correct service because it provides a centralized, policy-based backup solution for Amazon EBS volumes across multiple AWS accounts. It supports tag-based backup policies, retention rules, and integrates with Amazon CloudWatch Events and Amazon SNS to send notifications on failures, meeting all the stated requirements.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
AWS CloudFormation StackSets
Why it's wrong here
CloudFormation is for provisioning, not backup management.
Amazon RDS automated backups
Why it's wrong here
RDS backups are for RDS instances only.
AWS Backup
Why this is correct
AWS Backup provides centralized backup management across accounts.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon S3 lifecycle policies
Why it's wrong here
S3 lifecycle is for object storage, not EBS volumes.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates might confuse AWS Backup with native snapshot management or assume that a service like CloudFormation StackSets can handle backup automation, but only AWS Backup provides the centralized, policy-driven, cross-account backup management with notification capabilities required by the scenario.
Detailed technical explanation
AWS Backup uses a backup plan that defines rules (e.g., frequency, retention period) and can be applied to resources via tags. It leverages AWS Organizations to centrally manage backups across accounts, using a backup vault to store recovery points. Under the hood, AWS Backup creates snapshots of EBS volumes and manages them according to the lifecycle policy, with failure notifications sent via Amazon SNS topics configured in the backup plan.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — This question tests Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS Backup — AWS Backup is the correct service because it provides a centralized, policy-based backup solution for Amazon EBS volumes across multiple AWS accounts. It supports tag-based backup policies, retention rules, and integrates with Amazon CloudWatch Events and Amazon SNS to send notifications on failures, meeting all the stated requirements.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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.
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