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AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 (SAP-C02) — Questions 901–975

1746 questions total · 24pages · All types, answers revealed

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901
Multi-Selectmedium

A company is designing a disaster recovery strategy for a critical application that runs on Amazon EC2. The application data is stored on Amazon EBS volumes and Amazon RDS for MySQL. The recovery time objective (RTO) is 2 hours, and the recovery point objective (RPO) is 1 hour. Which THREE steps should the company take to meet these objectives?

Select 3 answers
A.Configure cross-region replication for the RDS instance using a read replica.
B.Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) for continuous replication.
C.Create AMIs of the EC2 instances every hour.
D.Enable automated backups for the RDS instance with a retention period of 1 hour.
E.Schedule EBS snapshots every hour and replicate them to another region.
AnswersA, D, E

Provides a standby in another region with low RPO.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because automated backups of RDS allow point-in-time recovery with RPO of 5 minutes. Option C is correct because EBS snapshots can be created frequently and replicated. Option E is correct because cross-region replication provides a secondary site.

Option B is incorrect because AMIs do not include data. Option D is incorrect because application-level replication is less reliable.

Full explanation →
902
MCQeasy

A company is designing a serverless application using AWS Lambda that processes images uploaded to an S3 bucket. The processing time varies but typically completes within 5 minutes. The Lambda function needs to access a VPC-hosted database. What is the BEST way to configure the Lambda function to access the database while minimizing cold start latency?

A.Place the Lambda function outside the VPC and use a NAT gateway to reach the database
B.Place the Lambda function inside the VPC with a security group allowing access to the database
C.Use Amazon RDS Proxy to manage connections and keep Lambda outside the VPC
D.Use an Amazon VPC interface endpoint for Lambda and keep the function outside the VPC
AnswerD

Interface endpoints allow VPC access without placing Lambda in the VPC, reducing cold starts.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because using a VPC interface endpoint for Lambda avoids placing the function inside the VPC, which eliminates cold start latency due to ENI creation. Option A is incorrect because placing Lambda in the VPC adds cold start delays. Option C is incorrect because RDS Proxy does not eliminate the need for VPC access.

Option D is incorrect because a NAT gateway is for outbound internet, not inbound database access.

Full explanation →
903
MCQhard

A company uses Amazon DynamoDB with provisioned capacity for a critical workload. They notice that write requests are being throttled during peak hours. The table has a partition key of 'user_id' and a sort key of 'timestamp'. The access pattern is evenly distributed. What should a solutions architect do to reduce throttling?

A.Increase the read capacity units for the table.
B.Add a DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) cluster in front of the table.
C.Switch the table to DynamoDB On-Demand capacity mode.
D.Enable DynamoDB Auto Scaling for write capacity.
AnswerD

Auto Scaling dynamically adjusts write capacity to handle peak loads.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because DynamoDB Auto Scaling adjusts capacity based on actual usage, reducing throttling. Option A is wrong because changing to on-demand is a valid solution but may be more expensive; Auto Scaling is more cost-effective if usage is predictable. Option B is wrong because DAX is a cache for reads, not writes.

Option C is wrong because increasing read capacity doesn't help write throttling.

Full explanation →
904
MCQmedium

A company plans to migrate a relational database to Amazon RDS for MySQL. They need to minimize downtime during the migration. The source database is running on-premises. Which strategy should they use?

A.Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication.
B.Use AWS Snowball to transfer the data.
C.Use mysqldump to export the database and import into RDS.
D.Create a read replica of the on-premises database in RDS.
AnswerA

DMS supports continuous replication with minimal downtime.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because AWS DMS supports ongoing replication to minimize downtime. Option A is incorrect because taking a backup and restoring causes downtime. Option C is incorrect because AWS Snowball is for large data transfer, not suitable for ongoing replication.

Option D is incorrect because read replicas are for scaling reads, not migration.

Full explanation →
905
Multi-Selecteasy

A company uses AWS Lambda to process files uploaded to an S3 bucket. The Lambda function takes too long to execute and frequently times out. The function downloads the entire file to /tmp before processing. Which TWO changes would improve performance? (Choose two.)

Select 2 answers
A.Increase the Lambda function's reserved concurrency.
B.Increase the memory allocation for the Lambda function.
C.Modify the function to stream the file from S3 instead of downloading it entirely.
D.Increase the Lambda function timeout.
E.Increase the /tmp storage limit for the Lambda function.
AnswersC, D

Streaming reduces the time spent on I/O and eliminates the need to store the entire file in /tmp.

Why this answer

Options B and D are correct. Option B: Increasing the Lambda timeout gives more time for processing. Option D: Streaming the file instead of downloading it reduces I/O time.

Option A is wrong because more memory also increases CPU, but it's not the best approach; streaming is better. Option C is wrong because /tmp is ephemeral and its size limit does not affect performance significantly. Option E is wrong because concurrency limits affect throughput, not individual execution time.

Full explanation →
906
MCQhard

A company has a multi-account AWS environment with centralized logging. The security team wants to ensure that all VPC Flow Logs are published to a central S3 bucket in the logging account. Which combination of steps should be taken to achieve this?

A.Use Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose in each account to stream logs to the central S3 bucket
B.Create VPC Flow Logs in each account with a custom S3 bucket ARN in the logging account, and configure the bucket policy to allow log delivery from source accounts
C.Create VPC endpoints in each account to connect to the central S3 bucket
D.Create VPC Flow Logs in each account and publish to a central CloudWatch Logs group
AnswerB

VPC Flow Logs support cross-account delivery to S3 with appropriate bucket policy.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because VPC Flow Logs can be published directly to an S3 bucket in another account by specifying the bucket ARN in the logging account. The bucket policy must grant the `S3:PutObject` permission to the log delivery service principal (`delivery.logs.amazonaws.com`) for the source accounts, enabling cross-account log delivery without intermediate services.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates assume cross-account S3 delivery requires a VPC endpoint or a streaming service like Firehose, but AWS natively supports direct cross-account S3 delivery for VPC Flow Logs via bucket policies.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose adds unnecessary complexity and cost; VPC Flow Logs can natively deliver to S3 without requiring Firehose. Option C is wrong because VPC endpoints provide private connectivity to S3 but do not enable cross-account log delivery; the bucket policy is the mechanism for cross-account access. Option D is wrong because publishing to a central CloudWatch Logs group does not place logs in the central S3 bucket as required, and CloudWatch Logs is not the target specified in the question.

Full explanation →
907
MCQmedium

A company is using AWS Organizations and wants to delegate administration of AWS IAM Identity Center (successor to AWS SSO) to a specific member account. What must be done?

A.Create an IAM role in the member account with permissions to manage Identity Center
B.Use the AWS Organizations console to register the member account as a delegated administrator for IAM Identity Center
C.Attach an SCP to the member account allowing Identity Center actions
D.Create a new user in the management account with admin privileges
AnswerB

This grants the member account admin rights over Identity Center.

Why this answer

To delegate administration of IAM Identity Center to a specific member account in AWS Organizations, you must register that account as a delegated administrator using the AWS Organizations console or API. This grants the member account the necessary permissions to manage Identity Center settings, users, and groups without requiring the management account to perform all tasks. Option B is correct because it follows the official AWS mechanism for delegating administrative control of Identity Center to a member account.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse delegating administration with simply granting IAM permissions via roles or SCPs, not realizing that AWS requires a specific registration process through Organizations to enable delegated administration for Identity Center.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because creating an IAM role in the member account with permissions to manage Identity Center does not establish the required delegation relationship; Identity Center delegation must be registered at the Organizations level, not via a local IAM role. Option C is wrong because attaching a service control policy (SCP) to the member account only restricts or allows actions at the account level but does not delegate administrative authority for Identity Center; SCPs are for permission boundaries, not delegation. Option D is wrong because creating a new user in the management account with admin privileges does not delegate administration to a member account; it keeps all control in the management account and does not enable the member account to manage Identity Center independently.

Full explanation →
908
Multi-Selecteasy

A company is migrating an on-premises application to AWS. The application stores files on a Windows file server. The company wants to replace the file server with a managed AWS service that supports SMB protocol and integrates with Active Directory. Which TWO AWS services should the company consider? (Choose TWO.)

Select 2 answers
A.Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS).
B.Amazon Elastic File System (EFS).
C.Amazon S3 with S3 File Gateway.
D.Amazon FSx for Windows File Server.
E.AWS Storage Gateway File Gateway.
AnswersD, E

Fully managed Windows file server with SMB and AD support.

Why this answer

Options A and C are correct. Amazon FSx for Windows File Server supports SMB and Active Directory. AWS Storage Gateway File Gateway can also serve SMB files and integrates with AD.

Option B is wrong because EFS is NFS, not SMB. Option D is wrong because S3 is object storage. Option E is wrong because EBS is block storage and not multi-instance accessible.

Full explanation →
909
MCQeasy

A company is deploying a web application on AWS that must scale automatically based on CPU utilization. The application runs on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. Which configuration is required for the Auto Scaling group to scale based on CPU?

A.Create a scheduled scaling action to add instances at peak times.
B.Create a simple scaling policy that adds one instance when CPU exceeds 50%.
C.Create a step scaling policy based on a CloudWatch alarm for CPU utilization.
D.Configure the ALB health check to mark instances unhealthy if CPU is high.
AnswerC

Step scaling adjusts capacity based on alarm thresholds.

Why this answer

Create a CloudWatch alarm on average CPU utilization and a scaling policy. Option A (scheduled scaling) is for time-based. Option B (simple scaling) is not recommended.

Option D (ELB health check) is for health, not scaling.

Full explanation →
910
MCQmedium

A company is using Amazon CloudFront to serve content from an S3 origin. The content is updated infrequently. Users in some regions report seeing stale content. The company wants to ensure that users always see the latest version without waiting for TTL expiration. What is the MOST cost-effective solution?

A.Use file versioning in the URL (e.g., appending a query string or using a unique object key).
B.Set a very short TTL (e.g., 0 seconds) for the CloudFront distribution.
C.Use an origin shield to reduce the number of requests to S3.
D.Create a CloudFront invalidation request for the changed files after each update.
AnswerA

Unique URLs force CloudFront to fetch new content from origin.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because file versioning (changing the URL) guarantees fresh content without cache invalidation costs. Option A is wrong because it is costly and not automatic. Option B is wrong because reducing TTL increases origin load.

Option C is wrong because it does not invalidate existing cache.

Full explanation →
911
MCQhard

A company is migrating a large-scale Apache Kafka cluster to Amazon MSK. The cluster has 100 topics with high throughput. The team wants to minimize operational overhead and ensure high availability. Which configuration should be used?

A.Use Amazon Kinesis Data Streams with enhanced fan-out.
B.Use Amazon SQS FIFO queues with message deduplication.
C.Deploy Apache Kafka on Amazon EC2 with Spot Instances and EBS volumes.
D.Provision an Amazon MSK cluster with 3 brokers per AZ across 3 AZs.
AnswerD

MSK is a managed Kafka service; multi-AZ provides high availability.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because MSK automatically handles replication and failover for high availability with minimal overhead. Option B is wrong because self-managed Kafka increases overhead. Option C is wrong because Kinesis is a different service.

Option D is wrong because SQS is not a Kafka replacement.

Full explanation →
912
Multi-Selectmedium

A company is migrating a legacy application to AWS. The application runs on a single EC2 instance and uses an attached EBS volume for data storage. The company wants to improve high availability. Which THREE actions should the company take? (Choose three.)

Select 3 answers
A.Migrate the database to Amazon RDS with Multi-AZ deployment.
B.Use an EBS volume with higher IOPS to improve performance.
C.Store data on the instance store instead of EBS to reduce latency.
D.Place the EC2 instance in an Auto Scaling group that spans multiple Availability Zones.
E.Place the EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer.
AnswersA, D, E

Multi-AZ provides automatic failover for the database.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because Multi-AZ RDS provides database high availability. Option B is correct because Auto Scaling across multiple AZs provides compute high availability. Option C is correct because an ALB distributes traffic across healthy instances.

Option D is wrong because a single EBS volume is not highly available. Option E is wrong because storing data only on the instance store is not durable.

Full explanation →
913
MCQeasy

A company needs to provide a global content delivery solution with low latency. Which AWS service should they use?

A.Amazon S3
B.Amazon EC2
C.Amazon Route 53
D.Amazon CloudFront
AnswerD

CloudFront is a CDN for low-latency delivery.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because Amazon CloudFront is a global CDN that delivers content with low latency. Option A is wrong because S3 is storage. Option B is wrong because EC2 is compute.

Option D is wrong because Route 53 is DNS.

Full explanation →
914
MCQhard

A company is designing a disaster recovery solution for a critical application that runs on EC2 instances in a single AWS Region. The application uses a custom AMI that is updated weekly. The recovery point objective (RPO) is 15 minutes, and the recovery time objective (RTO) is 4 hours. The solution must minimize cost while meeting these objectives. Which approach should be used?

A.Use EC2 Image Builder to create an updated AMI weekly and replicate it to another Region, then launch instances from the replicated AMI in the DR Region.
B.Use Amazon S3 cross-region replication to copy the application data to a bucket in another Region.
C.Use AWS CloudEndure Disaster Recovery for continuous replication of the entire server.
D.Manually create an AMI of the instance every week and copy it to another region using the AWS Management Console.
AnswerA

EC2 Image Builder automates AMI creation and replication, meeting RPO with scheduled builds and RTO by launching instances from the replicated AMI.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because EC2 Image Builder can automate AMI creation and replication to another region, meeting weekly updates and RPO/RTO with minimal cost. Option A is wrong because CloudEndure continuous replication has higher cost and complexity. Option B is wrong because AMI sharing is manual and does not meet RPO.

Option C is wrong because S3 cross-region replication is for objects, not AMIs.

Full explanation →
915
MCQeasy

A company hosts a static website on Amazon S3 with public read access. The website uses a custom domain name (www.example.com). The company wants to improve performance for global users and also add HTTPS support. They have already set up a CloudFront distribution with the S3 bucket as the origin. However, users still cannot access the website via HTTPS. What should they do?

A.Request an SSL certificate from AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) and import it into CloudFront.
B.Enable static website hosting on the S3 bucket and configure the bucket policy to allow HTTPS.
C.Place an Application Load Balancer in front of the S3 bucket and attach an SSL certificate.
D.Configure the CloudFront distribution to use a custom SSL certificate and set the alternate domain name (CNAME) to www.example.com.
AnswerD

This enables HTTPS on CloudFront with the custom domain.

Why this answer

Option D is correct. An SSL/TLS certificate must be associated with the CloudFront distribution, and the custom domain must be configured in the distribution settings. Option A: S3 supports HTTPS but CloudFront needs its own certificate.

Option B: ELB is not needed for static websites. Option C: ACM certificates can be used but must be in US East (N. Virginia) region for CloudFront.

Full explanation →
916
MCQmedium

A company is migrating 50 on-premises web applications to AWS. Each application has a different OS and middleware. The migration must minimize downtime and use a pay-as-you-go model. Which AWS service should the company use to standardize the deployment of these applications?

A.AWS CloudFormation
B.AWS Application Migration Service
C.AWS Server Migration Service
D.AWS Database Migration Service
AnswerB

Application Migration Service automates lift-and-shift for applications.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because AWS Application Migration Service automates lift-and-shift migration of applications from on-premises to AWS, minimizing downtime and supporting heterogeneous environments. Option A is wrong because AWS CloudFormation is for infrastructure as code, not for migrating applications. Option B is wrong because AWS Database Migration Service is for databases, not general applications.

Option D is wrong because AWS Server Migration Service is deprecated and replaced by Application Migration Service.

Full explanation →
917
MCQhard

A company has a central IT team that manages AWS resources for multiple business units using AWS Organizations. Each business unit has its own OU. The central team needs to allow each OU's administrators to manage their own IAM roles and policies, but prevent them from modifying the OU structure or creating new accounts. Which IAM policy should be attached to the administrators in the management account?

A.A policy that denies all IAM and organization actions except for viewing.
B.A policy that allows all IAM actions and denies organizations:CreateAccount and organizations:UpdateOrganizationalUnit.
C.A policy that allows organizations:* and IAM:* except for DeleteOrganization and RemoveAccountFromOrganization.
D.A policy that allows iam:* and denies organizations:CreateAccount, organizations:CreateOrganizationalUnit, organizations:UpdateOrganizationalUnit, and organizations:DeleteOrganizationalUnit.
AnswerD

This allows IAM management while denying organization structure changes.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because it explicitly denies the organizational-level actions that could modify the OU structure or create accounts, while allowing other IAM actions. Option A allows full administration, violating the restriction. Option B denies all IAM actions, preventing any management.

Option C allows full organization management, which is too permissive.

Full explanation →
918
MCQeasy

A company is running a stateless web application on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group. The application stores session data in an Amazon ElastiCache Redis cluster. After a recent deployment, users are being logged out frequently. What is the most likely cause?

A.The Auto Scaling group's min size is too small.
B.The Elastic Load Balancer's health check is too aggressive.
C.The application is not using the ElastiCache cluster for session storage.
D.The ElastiCache cluster's security group is blocking traffic from the ALB.
AnswerC

If sessions are stored locally on EC2 instances, they are lost when instances are terminated or scaled, causing logouts.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because if the application is not properly configured to use the ElastiCache cluster, session data may be lost on instance replacement or scaling events. Option A is wrong because the Auto Scaling group is configured, but the issue is session persistence. Option C is wrong because health checks do not affect session data.

Option D is wrong because the ALB is not causing logout; the issue is session storage.

Full explanation →
919
MCQhard

A company uses Amazon RDS for MySQL with Multi-AZ deployment. During a recent failover, they experienced a few minutes of downtime because the application's connection string pointed to the primary instance DNS name. What is the MOST effective solution to minimize downtime during failover?

A.Use the RDS Multi-AZ DNS name (CNAME) that automatically updates after failover.
B.Assign an Elastic IP address to the RDS instance.
C.Create a read replica in another Region and promote it during failover manually.
D.Configure a Network Load Balancer in front of the RDS instance.
AnswerA

The Multi-AZ DNS name automatically points to the new primary after failover.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because using the RDS cluster endpoint (for Aurora) or the Multi-AZ DNS name (which automatically points to the current primary) ensures the application reconnects with minimal disruption. Option A is wrong because read replicas are for read scaling, not automatic failover. Option C is wrong because using an Elastic IP with RDS is not supported.

Option D is wrong because a Network Load Balancer adds complexity and latency.

Full explanation →
920
Multi-Selecteasy

A company is designing a disaster recovery solution for an Amazon Aurora MySQL database. The database is currently in a single AWS Region. The company needs an RPO of less than 1 minute and an RTO of less than 5 minutes. Which TWO steps should the company take? (Choose TWO.)

Select 2 answers
A.Configure an Aurora Global Database with a secondary cluster in another Region.
B.Create a read replica in another Region.
C.Use Amazon RDS Proxy to reduce failover time.
D.Enable Aurora Serverless auto scaling.
E.Enable Multi-AZ for the Aurora cluster.
AnswersA, C

Global Database provides cross-Region replication with low RPO.

Why this answer

Options A and E are correct. A: Cross-Region Aurora Global Database provides replication with sub-minute RPO. E: RDS Proxy helps with fast failover by managing connections.

Option B is for RDS, not Aurora. Option C is for RDS. Option D is for Aurora Serverless, not for global replication.

Full explanation →
921
Multi-Selectmedium

A company uses AWS Organizations and wants to centralize Amazon VPC IP Address Manager (IPAM) across multiple accounts. Which TWO steps are required to enable cross-account IPAM?

Select 2 answers
A.Create a PrivateLink endpoint for IPAM.
B.Enable VPC sharing in each member account.
C.Share the IPAM pool using AWS Resource Access Manager (RAM).
D.Set up AWS Direct Connect between accounts.
E.Delegate an administrator account for IPAM.
AnswersC, E

RAM enables sharing IPAM pools across accounts.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because AWS Resource Access Manager (RAM) is the service used to share IPAM pools across accounts in an AWS Organization. Sharing the pool allows member accounts to allocate CIDRs from the centrally managed pool without needing direct access to the management account. This enables centralized IP address management while maintaining account isolation.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates confuse IPAM pool sharing (which uses RAM) with VPC sharing or network connectivity services like Direct Connect, leading them to select irrelevant options that address different aspects of multi-account networking.

Full explanation →
922
MCQmedium

A company is designing a hybrid cloud architecture that requires low-latency connectivity between on-premises and AWS. The company has multiple branch offices connecting to a central data center. The data center must be connected to AWS with 10 Gbps throughput and high availability. Which solution should the company choose?

A.Use AWS Transit Gateway to connect multiple VPCs to on-premises via a single VPN.
B.Use a single AWS Direct Connect connection with a backup VPN over the internet.
C.Set up multiple AWS Site-to-Site VPN connections from the data center to the VPC.
D.Order two AWS Direct Connect connections from different providers and configure them in a LAG.
AnswerD

Multiple Direct Connect connections provide high availability and 10 Gbps throughput.

Why this answer

AWS Direct Connect with multiple connections provides dedicated, consistent throughput and high availability. Option A (VPN) is lower throughput. Option C (VPN over Internet) is not dedicated.

Option D (Transit Gateway) is for managing multiple VPCs, not the primary connection.

Full explanation →
923
Multi-Selecteasy

A company uses AWS CloudFormation to deploy infrastructure. They need to ensure that updates to a stack do not cause downtime for a critical database. Which TWO strategies should they use?

Select 2 answers
A.Create a new stack and migrate data.
B.Use an UpdatePolicy attribute for rolling updates.
C.Disable rollback on stack update failures.
D.Use a service role for CloudFormation.
E.Use a DeletionPolicy attribute of Retain on the database resource.
AnswersB, E

Rolling updates minimize downtime.

Why this answer

Correct answers are B and C. Option B prevents deletion of the database. Option C uses update policies to control how changes are applied.

Option A is wrong because a new stack would require data migration. Option D is wrong because disabling rollback is risky. Option E is wrong because service roles don't prevent downtime.

Full explanation →
924
Multi-Selecthard

A company is migrating a web application to AWS. The application consists of a stateless web tier, a stateful application tier, and a MySQL database. The company wants to use AWS managed services to improve scalability and reduce operational overhead. Which THREE services should the company use? (Choose THREE.)

Select 3 answers
A.Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling
B.Amazon S3
C.Application Load Balancer
D.Amazon ElastiCache for Redis
E.Amazon RDS for MySQL
AnswersC, D, E

ALB provides load balancing for the web tier.

Why this answer

Options A, C, and E are correct. Option A: ALB for load balancing. Option C: ElastiCache for session state.

Option E: RDS for MySQL. Option B is wrong because EC2 is not managed. Option D is wrong because S3 is not for stateful data.

Full explanation →
925
MCQmedium

A company plans to migrate a legacy on-premises web application to AWS using the 7 Rs (Rehost, Replatform, etc.). The application has tightly coupled components and unpredictable traffic. The team wants to minimize migration risk and time. Which migration strategy should they use?

A.Replatform
B.Rehost (lift-and-shift)
C.Repurchase
D.Retire
AnswerB

Rehost migrates without changes, minimizing risk and time.

Why this answer

Rehost (lift-and-shift) is the fastest and lowest-risk migration strategy because it does not require code changes. It allows the company to move the application as-is to EC2, then refactor later. Option A (Replatform) involves some modifications.

Option C (Retire) is for decommissioning. Option D (Repurchase) means replacing with SaaS.

Full explanation →
926
MCQeasy

A company is troubleshooting a Lambda function that is timing out when trying to connect to an RDS database in a VPC. The Lambda function configuration is shown in the exhibit. The function has a timeout of 30 seconds and a memory size of 128 MB. The VPC has subnets in multiple Availability Zones, but the function only has one subnet configured. What change will MOST LIKELY resolve the timeout?

A.Add subnets from other Availability Zones to the VPC configuration.
B.Remove the VPC configuration to allow the function to access the internet.
C.Increase the function's memory size to 1024 MB.
D.Update the security group to allow all outbound traffic.
AnswerA

Multiple subnets improve availability and connectivity.

Why this answer

Lambda functions require subnets in multiple Availability Zones for high availability. With only one subnet, if that AZ becomes unavailable or the subnet lacks a NAT gateway for internet access, the function may fail. Adding subnets from multiple AZs improves availability.

Option B is correct. Option A is wrong because increasing memory may help performance but not connectivity. Option C is wrong because VPC is needed for RDS.

Option D is wrong because the security group may be correct.

Full explanation →
927
Multi-Selectmedium

A company is migrating a critical application to AWS using a rehost (lift-and-shift) approach. The application consists of a web tier and a database tier. The company wants to ensure high availability and disaster recovery. Which TWO actions should the company take? (Choose TWO.)

Select 2 answers
A.Configure Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling to launch instances across multiple AWS Regions.
B.Deploy the web tier across multiple Availability Zones.
C.Use Amazon RDS Multi-AZ for the database tier.
D.Use Amazon RDS read replicas to offload read traffic.
E.Use a single Availability Zone for the database to reduce latency.
AnswersB, C

Provides high availability for the web tier.

Why this answer

Options A and D are correct. Deploying across multiple AZs provides high availability within a region. Using RDS Multi-AZ provides high availability for the database.

Option B is wrong because Auto Scaling across multiple regions is not typical for lift-and-shift and adds complexity. Option C is wrong because a single AZ is not highly available. Option E is wrong because read replicas are for read scaling, not HA.

Full explanation →
928
MCQeasy

A company stores sensitive data in an S3 bucket encrypted with SSE-KMS. They need to audit all access requests to the bucket. Which AWS service should they use?

A.VPC Flow Logs
B.Amazon CloudWatch Logs
C.AWS Config
D.AWS CloudTrail
AnswerD

CloudTrail logs all S3 data plane and control plane operations.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because AWS CloudTrail logs all API calls to S3, including KMS decrypt calls. Option A is wrong because AWS Config records resource configuration, not access. Option B is wrong because VPC Flow Logs track network traffic, not API calls.

Option D is wrong because CloudWatch Logs can store logs but not generate them from S3 access.

Full explanation →
929
Matchingmedium

Match each AWS cost management tool to its use.

Drag a concept onto its matching description — or click a concept then click the description.

Concepts
Matches

Visualize and explore cost and usage data

Set custom cost and usage budgets with alerts

Recommendations for cost optimization, performance, security

Flexible pricing model for compute savings

Recommend optimal compute resources based on usage

Why these pairings

Cost management tools help control spend and optimize resources.

Full explanation →
930
MCQhard

A company has a decentralized IT structure where each business unit manages its own AWS account. The central security team needs to ensure that all accounts use a specific set of IAM roles for cross-account access. What is the most scalable way to enforce this?

A.Use AWS Config rules to detect non-compliant roles and send alerts.
B.Deploy the IAM roles using AWS CloudFormation StackSets.
C.Request each business unit to create the required IAM roles manually.
D.Apply an SCP that denies iam:CreateRole unless the role has the required trust policy.
AnswerD

SCPs can enforce conditions on role creation centrally.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because SCPs can deny the creation of IAM roles that do not match the required trust policy, enforcing the use of specific roles. Option A is wrong because IAM roles in each account require manual setup. Option B is wrong because AWS CloudFormation StackSets can deploy the roles but cannot prevent creation of non-compliant roles.

Option D is wrong because AWS Config can detect but not prevent.

Full explanation →
931
Multi-Selecthard

A company is migrating a legacy application to AWS. The application consists of several components that communicate via TCP. The solutions architect must design a solution that minimizes operational overhead and provides high availability. Which TWO strategies should be used?

Select 2 answers
A.Use instance store volumes for data persistence.
B.Use managed services like Amazon RDS and Amazon ElastiCache to reduce operational overhead.
C.Use Spot Instances for all compute resources.
D.Use VPC Peering to connect components.
E.Use an Application Load Balancer to distribute traffic across multiple EC2 instances.
AnswersB, E

Managed services reduce overhead and provide HA out-of-the-box.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because using managed services like Amazon RDS and Amazon ElastiCache offloads administrative tasks such as patching, backups, and replication setup, significantly reducing operational overhead. Option E is correct because an Application Load Balancer (ALB) distributes incoming TCP traffic across multiple EC2 instances in different Availability Zones, providing high availability and fault tolerance for the application components.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may confuse high availability with data persistence, incorrectly choosing instance store volumes (Option A) for persistence, or assume that Spot Instances (Option C) can be used for all compute resources despite their interruption risk, overlooking the need for reliable TCP communication in a production migration.

Full explanation →
932
Multi-Selectmedium

A company is migrating a legacy application that uses Oracle stored procedures to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL. Which TWO strategies minimize code changes and migration effort?

Select 2 answers
A.Use the PostgreSQL oracle_fdw foreign data wrapper to access Oracle tables from Aurora PostgreSQL.
B.Use Amazon RDS for Oracle with cross-Region replication.
C.Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) to replicate data continuously.
D.Migrate the database to Amazon DynamoDB and rewrite all application logic.
E.Use AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT) to convert Oracle PL/SQL to PostgreSQL PL/pgSQL.
AnswersA, E

FDW can reduce migration effort by allowing access to Oracle data.

Why this answer

Options A and D are correct. Option A uses AWS SCT to automate schema conversion. Option D uses the PostgreSQL oracle_fdw extension to enable access to Oracle objects.

Option B is wrong because DynamoDB is NoSQL. Option C is wrong because RDS for Oracle does not move to PostgreSQL. Option E is wrong because DMS does not convert stored procedures.

Full explanation →
933
Multi-Selecteasy

A company is migrating its on-premises VMware VMs to AWS using AWS MGN. They need to ensure that the migration minimizes downtime and automates cutover. Which TWO steps are required? (Select TWO.)

Select 2 answers
A.Use AWS Server Migration Service (SMS) to replicate the VMs
B.Use AWS CloudEndure Migration to configure the replication
C.Launch a test instance to validate the migration before cutover
D.Install the AWS MGN agent on each source VM
E.Use AWS DMS to migrate the data from the VMs
AnswersC, D

Testing is a best practice to ensure the migrated instance works correctly.

Why this answer

AWS MGN requires installing the MGN agent on each source VM (B) and then launching a test instance to verify the migration before cutover (C). Option A (AWS SMS) is a different service. Option D (AWS DMS) is for databases.

Option E (AWS CloudEndure Migration) is the former name of MGN, but the question asks for steps within MGN, and test launch is a required step.

Full explanation →
934
MCQhard

A company runs a high-traffic web application on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. The application experiences intermittent latency spikes during peak hours. Analysis shows that the latency spikes correlate with high CPU utilization on the EC2 instances. The company wants to reduce latency without over-provisioning. Which solution is MOST cost-effective and scalable?

A.Add Amazon ElastiCache to cache database queries.
B.Use Spot Instances to reduce costs and scale horizontally.
C.Increase the EC2 instance size to handle peak loads.
D.Configure an Auto Scaling group with a target tracking scaling policy based on average CPU utilization.
AnswerD

This dynamically adjusts capacity to maintain target utilization, optimizing cost and performance.

Why this answer

Using a target tracking scaling policy based on average CPU utilization automatically adjusts capacity to maintain a target utilization, preventing over-provisioning. Option A (increase instance size) is not scalable and may be costly. Option C (use Spot Instances) can introduce interruptions.

Option D (add a cache layer) addresses different issues.

Full explanation →
935
MCQmedium

A company is designing a serverless application using AWS Lambda. The function needs to process files uploaded to an S3 bucket and store metadata in DynamoDB. The solution must handle up to 1,000 concurrent invocations. Which configuration should be used to avoid throttling?

A.Request a concurrency limit increase from AWS Support
B.Enable provisioned concurrency
C.Use a dead-letter queue (DLQ) to retry throttled requests
D.Set reserved concurrency to 1,000
AnswerA

Default concurrency limit is 1,000; for higher concurrency, request an increase.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because Lambda functions need to request a concurrency limit increase from AWS Support if the default limit of 1,000 concurrent executions is insufficient. Option B (provisioned concurrency) is for latency-sensitive applications, not for avoiding throttling. Option C (reserved concurrency) limits concurrency.

Option D (DLQ) handles failed invocations, not throttling.

Full explanation →
936
MCQhard

A media company is designing a new video processing pipeline on AWS. Videos are uploaded to an S3 bucket, which triggers an AWS Lambda function to start an AWS Elemental MediaConvert job. The MediaConvert job uses a custom job template. The pipeline must handle bursty uploads of up to 50 videos simultaneously. The company has noticed that some uploads are not being processed. The Lambda function is configured with a reserved concurrency of 10. The S3 event notification is configured to send events to the Lambda function. The MediaConvert job template is configured correctly. What is the most likely reason for the missed processing?

A.The MediaConvert job template is not being applied correctly.
B.The S3 event notification is not guaranteed to deliver events.
C.The Lambda function's reserved concurrency of 10 is too low, causing throttling and missed events.
D.The Lambda function is failing due to a timeout.
AnswerC

With 50 concurrent uploads, only 10 can be processed; the rest are throttled and may be lost.

Why this answer

Option A is correct. With reserved concurrency set to 10, only 10 Lambda invocations can happen concurrently; if more than 10 uploads occur simultaneously, the remaining events will be throttled. Option B is wrong because event notifications are reliable.

Option C is wrong because there is no information about errors. Option D is wrong because the template is correct.

Full explanation →
937
MCQmedium

A company runs a production application on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. Recently, error rates increased due to a misconfiguration. The operations team wants to automatically roll back to the previous working configuration if errors exceed a threshold. Which solution provides the fastest rollback?

A.Manually restore AMI snapshots of the previous deployment.
B.Use AWS Elastic Beanstalk with rolling updates and health checks.
C.Use AWS CloudFormation with a stack policy to prevent updates.
D.Implement AWS CodeDeploy with automatic rollback triggered by CloudWatch alarms.
AnswerD

CodeDeploy can automatically roll back to the previous revision based on alarms.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because AWS CodeDeploy allows automatic rollback based on CloudWatch alarms. Option A is wrong because manual rollback is slower. Option B is wrong because CloudFormation stack rollback requires stack update, not real-time.

Option D is wrong because Elastic Beanstalk uses CodeDeploy internally but with less control.

Full explanation →
938
Multi-Selecthard

A company is designing a new web application with a global user base. They need to improve latency for static content and protect against DDoS attacks. Which services should they use? (Choose THREE.)

Select 3 answers
A.AWS Shield
B.AWS Global Accelerator
C.Amazon Route 53
D.AWS WAF
E.Amazon CloudFront
AnswersA, D, E

DDoS protection.

Why this answer

AWS Shield (Standard, included by default) provides always-on detection and automatic inline mitigations to protect against common DDoS attacks at Layer 3 and Layer 4. For a global web application, this foundational protection is essential to maintain availability and low latency under attack.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often select AWS Global Accelerator or Route 53 thinking they provide caching or DDoS protection, but Global Accelerator only optimizes network path and Route 53 only handles DNS resolution—neither caches static content nor mitigates application-layer DDoS attacks like CloudFront and WAF do.

Full explanation →
939
MCQeasy

A company wants to allow developers to assume a role in a production account from their development account using AWS IAM. What is needed for this cross-account access?

A.A role in the dev account with permissions to access production resources.
B.An IAM user in the production account with permissions to switch roles.
C.A role in the production account with a trust policy allowing the dev account, and an IAM policy in the dev account allowing sts:AssumeRole.
D.An SCP that allows sts:AssumeRole from the dev account.
AnswerC

This is the standard cross-account role access setup.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because cross-account access requires both a trust policy in the production account allowing the dev account to assume the role, and an IAM policy in the dev account granting sts:AssumeRole. Option A is wrong because SCPs are not used for cross-account role assumption. Option B is wrong because roles are assumed, not users.

Option D is wrong because a role must exist in the target account.

Full explanation →
940
MCQhard

A company uses AWS Organizations and wants to implement a data perimeter across all accounts to ensure that data can only be accessed from approved networks. Which combination of controls should be used to enforce this perimeter?

A.Use S3 bucket policies with aws:SourceIp condition.
B.Use AWS Config rules to detect and alert on non-compliant access.
C.Use network ACLs in each VPC.
D.Use service control policies with aws:SourceIp and aws:SourceVpc conditions.
AnswerD

SCPs can deny access from unapproved networks across all services.

Why this answer

Service control policies (SCPs) in AWS Organizations can enforce a data perimeter by restricting access based on network origin using the `aws:SourceIp` and `aws:SourceVpc` condition keys. This approach works across all accounts in the organization, ensuring that only requests from approved networks (e.g., specific IP ranges or VPCs) are allowed, regardless of individual account configurations.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse resource-level policies (like S3 bucket policies) with organization-wide controls (SCPs), or they mistake detective controls (AWS Config) for preventive controls, leading them to choose options that only partially address the requirement or are reactive rather than proactive.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because S3 bucket policies with `aws:SourceIp` only apply to S3 resources and cannot enforce a data perimeter across all accounts or services; they are resource-specific, not organization-wide. Option B is wrong because AWS Config rules are detective controls that alert on non-compliant access after it occurs, not preventive controls that block unauthorized access. Option C is wrong because network ACLs operate at the subnet level within a single VPC and cannot enforce policies across multiple accounts or control access to services outside the VPC (e.g., S3 via public endpoints).

Full explanation →
941
MCQhard

A company uses AWS Organizations with hundreds of accounts. The security team wants to ensure that no account can disable AWS CloudTrail or delete CloudTrail log files. Which preventive control should be implemented?

A.Use AWS Config rules to detect and remediate any changes to CloudTrail configurations.
B.Apply a service control policy (SCP) that denies cloudtrail:StopLogging and cloudtrail:DeleteTrail.
C.Create an IAM policy that denies cloudtrail:StopLogging and cloudtrail:DeleteTrail for all IAM users.
D.Apply a resource-based policy to the CloudTrail trail that denies these actions.
AnswerB

SCPs can restrict actions across all accounts in the organization.

Why this answer

A service control policy (SCP) can deny actions that disable CloudTrail or delete logs. Option A is wrong because IAM permissions only apply within an account. Option B is wrong because CloudTrail is not a resource that can be protected by a resource-based policy in this context.

Option D is wrong because AWS Config is detective.

Full explanation →
942
MCQmedium

A company is designing a serverless application using AWS Lambda. The function needs to access a VPC resource. What is the correct way to configure this?

A.Attach an Internet Gateway to the VPC
B.Assign the Lambda function to the VPC and configure a security group
C.Set up a VPC peering connection
D.Configure a NAT Gateway in the public subnet
AnswerB

Lambda in VPC requires a security group and VPC configuration.

Why this answer

Lambda functions must be attached to a VPC and assigned a security group to access resources within the VPC, such as an RDS database or an Elasticache cluster. This configuration creates an elastic network interface (ENI) in the VPC, allowing the function to communicate with VPC resources via private IP addresses. The security group acts as a virtual firewall to control inbound and outbound traffic for the Lambda function.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse external connectivity (Internet Gateway, NAT Gateway) with internal VPC access, mistakenly thinking those components are required for a Lambda function to reach resources within the same VPC.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because an Internet Gateway enables communication between a VPC and the internet, not direct access to VPC resources from a Lambda function; Lambda already uses a VPC-attached ENI for private connectivity. Option C is wrong because VPC peering connects two separate VPCs, but the Lambda function needs to be directly attached to the target VPC, not rely on a peering connection. Option D is wrong because a NAT Gateway allows outbound internet access from private subnets, but it does not enable a Lambda function to access VPC resources; the function must be attached to the VPC with appropriate security group rules.

Full explanation →
943
MCQeasy

A developer is deploying a serverless application using AWS SAM. The deployment fails with a 'ResourceNotReady' error. What is the most likely cause?

A.The SAM template has invalid YAML syntax.
B.The application has too many tags.
C.A resource that the application depends on is not yet created.
D.The Lambda function code has a runtime error.
AnswerC

Dependency not ready causes ResourceNotReady.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because 'ResourceNotReady' indicates a dependency is not ready. Option A is incorrect because template syntax errors would show before deployment. Option C is incorrect because code errors would show during invocation.

Option D is incorrect because tags do not cause this error.

Full explanation →
944
Multi-Selectmedium

A company is planning to migrate its on-premises workload to AWS. The workload consists of a stateful web application that requires a static IP address for whitelisting by third-party services. The company will use a multi-AZ deployment. Which TWO services should be used together to meet these requirements?

Select 2 answers
A.Amazon Route 53
B.Amazon CloudFront
C.Network Load Balancer (NLB)
D.Application Load Balancer (ALB)
E.AWS Global Accelerator
AnswersC, D

NLB can provide static IP addresses for whitelisting.

Why this answer

A Network Load Balancer (NLB) provides a static IP address per Availability Zone, which can be whitelisted by third-party services. It operates at Layer 4 and can handle stateful web application traffic without modifying the source IP, preserving client IP visibility for the application. Combined with a multi-AZ deployment, the NLB ensures high availability and a fixed IP endpoint for external whitelisting.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse AWS Global Accelerator's static IPs with NLB's static IPs, but Global Accelerator is optimized for global traffic and adds unnecessary complexity and cost for a single-region multi-AZ deployment where per-AZ static IPs are sufficient for whitelisting.

Full explanation →
945
MCQmedium

A company has an AWS Lambda function that processes messages from an Amazon SQS queue. The function is invoked with a batch size of 10. Some messages are failing repeatedly, causing the function to retry them up to the maximum retry count and then they are sent to a dead-letter queue (DLQ). The company wants to improve the resilience of the application by handling partial batch failures more efficiently. What should a solutions architect do?

A.Move the messages to a DLQ immediately after the first failure.
B.Implement reportBatchItemFailures in the Lambda function and enable partial batch response for the SQS event source mapping.
C.Decrease the batch size to 1 so that each invocation processes a single message.
D.Increase the batch size to 100 to process more messages per invocation.
AnswerB

This allows Lambda to report individual failures so only those messages are retried.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because implementing reportBatchItemFailures in the Lambda function and enabling partial batch response for the SQS event source mapping allows the function to signal which specific messages within a batch failed. This prevents the entire batch from being retried or sent to the DLQ, and only the failed messages are retried individually, improving resilience and efficiency.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often think decreasing batch size to 1 is the simplest fix, but that ignores the throughput impact and the fact that AWS provides a native partial batch failure mechanism that is more efficient and scalable.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because moving messages to a DLQ immediately after the first failure defeats the purpose of retries and would cause unnecessary data loss for transient failures. Option C is wrong because decreasing the batch size to 1 reduces throughput and does not address partial batch failures; it simply avoids the problem by processing one message at a time, which is less efficient. Option D is wrong because increasing the batch size to 100 would amplify the impact of partial failures, as the entire batch would be retried or sent to the DLQ if any message fails, making the problem worse.

Full explanation →
946
MCQhard

A company is migrating a legacy database to Amazon RDS. The database currently runs on a single server with a 2 TB volume. The migration must have less than 30 minutes of downtime. Which approach should be used for the initial data load?

A.Use a native database dump and restore during a maintenance window
B.Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication
C.Export the database to Amazon S3 and import into RDS using native tools
D.Create a read replica from the source database to RDS
AnswerB

DMS does a full load and then replicates changes to keep downtime minimal.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because AWS DMS can perform a full load and then ongoing replication to minimize downtime. Option B is wrong because exporting to S3 and importing takes longer and doesn't support continuous replication. Option C is wrong because creating a read replica requires a compatible source.

Option D is wrong because a native dump/restore requires significant downtime for a 2 TB database.

Full explanation →
947
MCQeasy

A company wants to use AWS Systems Manager to automate patching of EC2 instances across multiple AWS accounts. What is the most efficient way to manage this centrally?

A.Use AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager in the management account.
B.Use AWS Systems Manager Quick Setup to configure patching across accounts.
C.Use AWS Systems Manager Automation documents in each account.
D.Use AWS Config rules to trigger patching in each account.
AnswerB

Quick Setup provides centralized configuration across accounts in an organization.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because Systems Manager Quick Setup can configure automation across accounts from a central management account. Option A is wrong because Systems Manager Automation alone does not handle multi-account. Option C is wrong because Systems Manager Patch Manager is a component, not a multi-account solution.

Option D is wrong because AWS Config is for compliance, not patching.

Full explanation →
948
MCQmedium

A company is using AWS Organizations with consolidated billing. The company has a production account and a development account. The security team needs to ensure that developers cannot create IAM users in the development account. Which option is the MOST effective?

A.Apply an SCP to the development account that denies iam:CreateUser.
B.Create an IAM group for developers with a policy that denies iam:CreateUser.
C.Enable AWS CloudTrail to monitor iam:CreateUser calls.
D.Attach an IAM policy to each developer user that denies iam:CreateUser.
AnswerA

SCPs are effective even for users with full administrative permissions.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because an SCP can deny the iam:CreateUser action in the development account. Option A is wrong because IAM policies attached to developers affect their user permissions, but if they have admin privileges, they can bypass. Option B is wrong because IAM groups can be bypassed if users have other permissions.

Option D is wrong because CloudTrail only logs, does not prevent.

Full explanation →
949
MCQmedium

A company is designing a microservices architecture using Amazon ECS with Fargate. The services need to communicate with each other. Which approach provides the BEST security and performance?

A.Use AWS App Mesh for service-to-service communication with mutual TLS
B.Use VPC peering between the services' VPCs
C.Use an internet-facing Application Load Balancer for each service
D.Use an internal Network Load Balancer for each service
AnswerA

App Mesh provides a service mesh with mTLS, traffic control, and observability, improving security and performance within the mesh.

Why this answer

AWS App Mesh provides service mesh capabilities for secure communication with mTLS, observability, and traffic control. Option A (internet-facing ALB) exposes services to the internet. Option B (NLB) also exposes services.

Option D (VPC peering) is for connecting VPCs, not microservices.

Full explanation →
950
Multi-Selecthard

A company has a multi-account AWS environment with hundreds of accounts. They need to enforce that all accounts have AWS CloudTrail enabled and that logs are delivered to a central S3 bucket. Which TWO actions should be taken to ensure compliance across the organization?

Select 2 answers
A.Enable CloudTrail organization trail from the management account.
B.Create an AWS Lambda function in each account to enable CloudTrail.
C.Attach an SCP that requires CloudTrail to be enabled.
D.Create an AWS Config rule to detect accounts without CloudTrail.
E.Use AWS CloudFormation StackSets with service-managed permissions to deploy a CloudTrail trail to all accounts.
AnswersA, E

Organization trails automatically apply to all accounts.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because enabling an organization trail from the management account automatically creates a CloudTrail trail for all accounts in the AWS Organization, including future accounts, without requiring per-account configuration. This ensures centralized logging to a single S3 bucket and enforces compliance across the entire organization.

Exam trap

The trap here is confusing detective controls (like AWS Config rules) with preventive or automated enforcement mechanisms, leading candidates to choose Option D instead of recognizing that organization trails provide native, automatic compliance.

Full explanation →
951
MCQhard

A global company with a centralized IT team manages AWS resources across 50 accounts using AWS Control Tower. The team wants to deploy a new VPC with a specific CIDR block in each account in the same AWS Region. The VPC must have identical configuration across accounts. Which approach is the MOST efficient and meets the requirement?

A.Use AWS CloudFormation templates manually triggered in each account.
B.Create a VPC in one account and share it with other accounts using AWS Resource Access Manager (RAM).
C.Use AWS Control Tower account factory and AWS CloudFormation StackSets to deploy the VPC across all accounts.
D.Use AWS Organizations to create the VPC in each account via an SCP.
AnswerC

Control Tower account factory with StackSets automates deployment of identical resources across accounts.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because AWS Control Tower's Account Factory combined with AWS CloudFormation StackSets enables automated, centralized deployment of identical VPC configurations across all 50 accounts in the same Region. StackSets allow you to deploy a CloudFormation template to multiple accounts and Regions from a single administrator account, ensuring consistency without manual intervention.

Exam trap

The trap here is confusing AWS Resource Access Manager (RAM) for creating separate VPCs in each account versus sharing a single VPC, and misunderstanding that SCPs only control permissions, not resource creation.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because manually triggering CloudFormation templates in each account is inefficient, error-prone, and does not scale to 50 accounts, violating the 'most efficient' requirement. Option B is wrong because sharing a VPC via AWS Resource Access Manager (RAM) does not create a separate VPC in each account; it shares a single VPC, which does not meet the requirement of deploying a VPC in each account. Option D is wrong because AWS Organizations Service Control Policies (SCPs) are used to restrict permissions, not to create resources like VPCs; SCPs cannot deploy infrastructure.

Full explanation →
952
MCQmedium

A company is designing a new application that processes sensitive healthcare data. The application runs on Amazon ECS with Fargate and uses an Application Load Balancer. The company must ensure that all data in transit is encrypted. Which step should be taken?

A.Configure the target group to use HTTP protocol.
B.Configure the security group to only allow inbound traffic from approved IPs.
C.Use HTTP on port 80 and rely on VPC network ACLs.
D.Configure the ALB listener to use HTTPS (port 443) with an SSL certificate.
AnswerD

HTTPS encrypts traffic between client and ALB.

Why this answer

Option A is correct. A listener on port 443 with an SSL certificate encrypts traffic between clients and the ALB. Option B is wrong because the security group does not encrypt traffic.

Option C is wrong because HTTPS is needed at the ALB. Option D is wrong because the target group protocol should be HTTPS if encryption is required end-to-end, but the question asks for data in transit from clients.

Full explanation →
953
MCQhard

A company is migrating a legacy on-premises application that uses a custom TCP protocol. The application needs to be accessible from the internet while maintaining security. Which AWS service should they use to expose the application without modifying the code?

A.Amazon CloudFront
B.Network Load Balancer (NLB)
C.Amazon API Gateway
D.Application Load Balancer (ALB)
AnswerB

NLB supports TCP traffic and preserves the protocol.

Why this answer

AWS Network Load Balancer (NLB) supports TCP protocols and can be used without modifying the application. Option A is wrong because ALB is for HTTP/HTTPS. Option B is wrong because API Gateway is for HTTP APIs.

Option D is wrong because CloudFront is for content delivery, not TCP.

Full explanation →
954
MCQmedium

A company runs a critical web application on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. The instances are in an Auto Scaling group with a dynamic scaling policy based on average CPU utilization. After a recent deployment, users report intermittent timeouts. CloudWatch metrics show CPU utilization spikes to 90% before scaling out, but the new instances take 5 minutes to become healthy. What is the MOST effective solution to reduce timeouts during traffic spikes?

A.Use a scheduled scaling policy to add instances before expected peak times
B.Pre-warm the load balancer to reduce latency
C.Decrease the cooldown period and set a lower CPU utilization threshold for scale-out
D.Switch to predictive scaling
AnswerC

This triggers scale-out earlier and reduces the time to launch new instances.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because increasing the target CPU utilization threshold and decreasing the cooldown period may cause more aggressive scaling but does not address the 5-minute startup lag. Predictive scaling (C) is proactive but still has the same startup delay. Option D (pre-warming) is not a standard AWS feature.

Option A is correct because using a scheduled scaling policy to add instances before known peak hours can pre-empt the startup delay for predictable traffic patterns. However, the question asks for MOST effective; if traffic spikes are unpredictable, using a larger instance type (E) would reduce per-instance CPU but increase cost. The best answer is to reduce the cooldown period and set a lower CPU threshold (B) but that still has lag.

Actually, the best is to use a weighted target group with EC2 instances in a warm pool that are already registered with the ALB but not serving traffic until needed. Since warm pools are not an option, the correct answer is to use a step scaling policy with a lower scale-out threshold and reduce the health check grace period to speed up instance registration. But among given options, B is best because it triggers scale-out earlier and reduces the time to reach desired capacity.

Reviewing: A is scheduled, not reactive; B reduces cooldown and threshold; C is predictive; D is not a thing; E changes instance type. Correct: B.

Full explanation →
955
MCQmedium

Refer to the exhibit. A company applies this SCP to an OU. However, users in the OU are still able to upload objects to S3 without encryption. What is the most likely reason?

A.The users are using SSE-S3 encryption (AES256).
B.The SCP is missing a Deny for s3:PutObject without any encryption header.
C.The users are using SSE-C encryption.
D.The users are uploading objects using the Multipart Upload API, which uses the s3:UploadPart action.
AnswerD

The SCP only denies s3:PutObject, not s3:UploadPart.

Why this answer

Option C is correct because the SCP only denies s3:PutObject if the encryption is not AES256. However, if users use s3:PutObject with encryption set to aws:kms, the condition StringNotEquals evaluates to true (since 'AES256' != 'aws:kms'), so the Deny applies. Wait: actually, the condition denies if encryption is NOT AES256, so both 'aws:kms' and no encryption would be denied.

But if users use SSE-S3 (AES256), it's allowed. The problem is that users are able to upload without encryption. That means the Deny is not taking effect.

The most likely reason is that the SCP is not attached to the OU, or the users are using Multipart Upload (s3:PutObjectPart) which is a different action. Option A is wrong because SSE-C is also not AES256. Option B is wrong because they are not using SSE-S3.

Option D is wrong because the SCP does not deny s3:PutObject without encryption? Actually, the condition denies if encryption is not AES256, so it should deny unencrypted uploads. But if users use Multipart Upload, the action is s3:UploadPart, not s3:PutObject. So the SCP does not cover that.

Full explanation →
956
MCQmedium

A company has a multi-account AWS environment with a centralized security account. The security team needs to have read-only access to all Amazon S3 buckets across all accounts for auditing purposes. Which solution is the MOST secure and scalable?

A.Create an IAM role in each account with read-only S3 permissions and a trust policy that allows the security account to assume the role.
B.Attach a bucket policy to each S3 bucket that grants read-only access to the security team's IAM user in the security account.
C.Use the root user of each account to access the buckets.
D.Create an IAM user in each account with read-only S3 permissions and share the credentials with the security team.
AnswerA

This provides scalable and secure cross-account access.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because it uses IAM roles with cross-account trust policies, which is the most secure and scalable approach for granting read-only S3 access across multiple accounts. The security account assumes the role in each target account, avoiding long-term credentials and allowing centralized control via AWS Organizations or manual role creation.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may choose Option B thinking bucket policies are simpler, but they overlook the scalability and maintenance burden of managing individual bucket policies across hundreds or thousands of buckets, and the fact that bucket policies do not support cross-account access without explicitly listing the principal ARN, which is less flexible than IAM roles.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option B is wrong because attaching bucket policies to each S3 bucket individually is not scalable for large environments and requires managing policies per bucket, which can lead to policy size limits and complexity. Option C is wrong because using root users violates the principle of least privilege, is not auditable, and is insecure due to shared static credentials. Option D is wrong because creating IAM users in each account with shared credentials introduces long-term access keys that must be rotated and managed, increasing security risk and operational overhead compared to role-based access.

Full explanation →
957
MCQhard

A company is migrating a 2 PB data lake from on-premises HDFS to Amazon S3. The data is in Parquet format and is accessed by Spark jobs. The migration must be completed within 30 days over a 1 Gbps network. Which approach minimizes cost and meets the deadline?

A.Use AWS DataSync over a Direct Connect connection.
B.Set up a VPN connection and use rsync to copy data to S3.
C.Use AWS Transfer Family to send data over FTP to S3.
D.Order multiple AWS Snowball Edge devices, copy data, and return them. Then set up AWS Glue jobs to convert to Parquet if needed.
AnswerD

Snowball Edge provides high-capacity offline transfer, meeting the deadline.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because Snowball Edge can transfer large data in parallel, and S3 is the target. Option A is wrong because 1 Gbps cannot transfer 2 PB in 30 days. Option C is wrong because DataSync is for smaller volumes.

Option D is wrong because Direct Connect alone is too slow.

Full explanation →
958
Multi-Selectmedium

A company uses Amazon RDS for MySQL with Multi-AZ deployment. The database experiences high CPU utilization during peak hours. The company wants to reduce the load on the primary database instance without making changes to the application code. Which TWO solutions should the solutions architect recommend?

Select 2 answers
A.Increase the instance size of the primary RDS instance.
B.Create one or more Read Replicas in the same region and direct read traffic to them.
C.Enable Amazon RDS Proxy to manage database connections.
D.Convert the RDS instance to a Multi-AZ deployment if not already.
E.Implement an Amazon ElastiCache cluster to cache the results of frequently accessed queries.
AnswersB, E

Read Replicas offload read queries from the primary, reducing its CPU load.

Why this answer

Options B and D are correct. Read Replicas can offload read traffic from the primary, reducing CPU utilization. Amazon ElastiCache caches frequent query results, reducing database queries.

Option A is wrong because increasing instance size of the primary helps but is not the only solution and may require downtime. Option C is wrong because converting to Multi-AZ does not reduce read load; Multi-AZ is for failover. Option E is wrong because RDS Proxy helps with connection pooling but not CPU reduction from queries.

Full explanation →
959
Multi-Selectmedium

Which TWO actions improve the security of an S3 bucket that stores sensitive data?

Select 2 answers
A.Enable default encryption with SSE-S3 or SSE-KMS.
B.Block all public access using the S3 Block Public Access feature.
C.Enable S3 Transfer Acceleration.
D.Configure a lifecycle policy to transition objects to Glacier.
E.Enable S3 Select to filter data.
AnswersA, B

Encrypts objects at rest.

Why this answer

Options A and D are correct. Option A: Blocking public access prevents unintended exposure. Option D: Enabling server-side encryption protects data at rest.

Option B is wrong because S3 Transfer Acceleration does not provide security. Option C is wrong because lifecycle policies manage storage, not security. Option E is wrong because S3 Select is for querying, not security.

Full explanation →
960
MCQhard

A multinational corporation is migrating its on-premises Active Directory to AWS Managed Microsoft AD. The company has multiple VPCs in different AWS Regions, and all VPCs must be able to authenticate against the same directory. The directory must be highly available and support automatic failover. What is the MOST operationally efficient solution?

A.Use AWS Directory Service AD Connector in each VPC and point to an on-premises Active Directory.
B.Deploy AWS Managed Microsoft AD in each Region using multi-Region replication. Configure the directory as a global directory.
C.Deploy AWS Managed Microsoft AD in one Region. Create VPC peering connections to all other VPCs.
D.Deploy AWS Managed Microsoft AD in one Region. Configure VPN connections from each VPC to this directory.
AnswerB

Multi-Region replication provides automatic failover and low-latency authentication in each Region.

Why this answer

AWS Managed Microsoft AD with multi-Region replication provides a single global directory that spans multiple Regions, enabling automatic failover and high availability. This is the most operationally efficient solution because it eliminates the need for complex networking (VPC peering or VPNs) and allows all VPCs to authenticate against the same directory natively, with replication handled by AWS.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often confuse VPC peering or VPN connectivity as sufficient for high availability, overlooking that a single-Region directory is a single point of failure and that multi-Region replication is the only option that provides automatic failover and operational efficiency across Regions.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because AD Connector is a proxy that forwards authentication requests to an on-premises Active Directory, not a managed directory in AWS, and it does not provide a highly available, multi-Region directory for the migration scenario. Option C is wrong because VPC peering does not provide automatic failover or high availability for the directory; it only enables network connectivity, and the single-Region directory would be a single point of failure. Option D is wrong because VPN connections add network complexity and latency, and a single-Region directory lacks automatic failover across Regions, making it less operationally efficient than multi-Region replication.

Full explanation →
961
Multi-Selectmedium

A company is migrating a multi-tier web application to AWS. The application consists of a web server, application server, and Oracle database. Which TWO AWS services should be used to modernize the application while reducing operational overhead?

Select 2 answers
A.Amazon RDS for Oracle
B.Amazon Lightsail
C.AWS Elastic Beanstalk
D.Amazon EC2
E.Amazon DynamoDB
AnswersA, C

Managed Oracle database reduces overhead.

Why this answer

Option A (Elastic Beanstalk) and Option D (RDS) are correct. Elastic Beanstalk manages the web and application servers, reducing operational overhead. RDS for Oracle manages the database.

Option B (EC2) increases operational overhead. Option C (DynamoDB) is not suitable for Oracle migration. Option E (Lightsail) is limited for complex applications.

Full explanation →
962
MCQhard

Refer to the exhibit. An IAM policy is attached to a user. When the user tries to upload an object to the S3 bucket 'my-bucket' using the AWS CLI without specifying server-side encryption, the upload fails. What is the MOST likely reason?

A.The bucket policy denies all uploads without encryption.
B.The policy requires server-side encryption with AES256, but the request did not include the encryption header.
C.The user is not the bucket owner.
D.The user does not have permission to call s3:PutObject.
AnswerB

The condition enforces encryption.

Why this answer

Option B is correct. The policy requires the `s3:x-amz-server-side-encryption` header to be set to 'AES256'. If the user does not specify encryption, the condition fails and the request is denied.

Option A is wrong because the policy allows PutObject. Option C is wrong because the user has permissions, but the condition is not met. Option D is wrong because the bucket policy is not shown, but the user's policy is the issue.

Full explanation →
963
MCQmedium

A company uses AWS Organizations with multiple accounts. The finance team needs to track costs by department, where each department uses resources across several accounts. What is the BEST way to allocate costs accurately?

A.Use AWS Cost Explorer to view costs by linked account.
B.Define cost allocation tags for each department and enable them in the Billing and Cost Management console.
C.Set up AWS Budgets for each department with alerts.
D.Create AWS Resource Groups for each department and use AWS Config to track costs.
AnswerB

Tags allow grouping and tracking costs by department across accounts.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because using cost allocation tags that propagate to all accounts and organizing resources by department allows accurate cost tracking in AWS Cost Explorer. Option A is wrong because linked account aggregation does not break down by department. Option C is wrong because resource groups are not for cost allocation.

Option D is wrong because budgeting does not allocate costs.

Full explanation →
964
MCQmedium

A company is migrating a monolithic application to AWS. The application currently runs on a single on-premises server with a MySQL database. The company wants to reduce operational overhead and improve scalability. Which combination of AWS services should the company use?

A.Containerize the application and run on Amazon ECS with AWS Fargate, and use Amazon Aurora Serverless for MySQL.
B.Migrate the database to Amazon DynamoDB and host the application on AWS Lambda.
C.Host the application on Amazon EC2 and use Amazon RDS for MySQL.
D.Use AWS Elastic Beanstalk to deploy the application and Amazon RDS for MySQL as the database.
AnswerD

Elastic Beanstalk manages the environment, RDS reduces DB management overhead.

Why this answer

Option D is correct because using Elastic Beanstalk for the application and RDS for MySQL reduces overhead and provides scalability. Option A is wrong because EC2 and RDS still require manual management of EC2. Option B is wrong because DynamoDB is NoSQL and not compatible with MySQL.

Option C is wrong because Aurora Serverless is not MySQL-compatible without changes, and Fargate requires containerization.

Full explanation →
965
Multi-Selectmedium

A company is building a serverless application using AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, and Amazon DynamoDB. They want to improve performance and reduce costs. Which THREE actions should they take? (Choose THREE.)

Select 3 answers
A.Enable Lambda Provisioned Concurrency for the function.
B.Use DynamoDB on-demand capacity mode.
C.Use DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) for read-heavy workloads.
D.Enable API Gateway caching to reduce backend calls.
E.Increase the Lambda function timeout to 5 minutes.
AnswersA, C, D

Reduces cold start latency for predictable traffic.

Why this answer

Options A, C, and D are correct. A: Lambda Provisioned Concurrency reduces cold starts for predictable traffic. C: Using DAX reduces read latency and DynamoDB costs.

D: API Gateway caching reduces the number of requests to Lambda and DynamoDB. Option B is wrong because increasing timeout may increase costs without improving performance. Option E is wrong because DynamoDB on-demand can be more expensive for predictable workloads.

Full explanation →
966
MCQeasy

A company uses AWS Organizations and wants to centrally manage backups of EC2 instances across multiple accounts. Which service should they use?

A.AWS CloudEndure Disaster Recovery
B.Amazon S3 Glacier
C.AWS Storage Gateway
D.AWS Backup
AnswerD

Centralized backup service with cross-account support.

Why this answer

AWS Backup is the correct service because it provides a fully managed, policy-based backup solution that integrates with AWS Organizations to centrally manage backups across multiple accounts. It allows you to define backup policies that automatically apply to EC2 instances and other supported resources across all member accounts, ensuring compliance and centralized monitoring without requiring per-account manual configuration.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates may confuse AWS Backup with disaster recovery services like CloudEndure, not realizing that AWS Backup is purpose-built for centralized, policy-driven backup management across multiple accounts, while CloudEndure focuses on continuous replication for failover, not scheduled backups.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because AWS CloudEndure Disaster Recovery is designed for continuous replication and rapid failover for disaster recovery scenarios, not for scheduled, policy-based backup management across multiple accounts. Option B is wrong because Amazon S3 Glacier is a storage class for long-term archival of objects, not a service for orchestrating or managing backups of EC2 instances across accounts. Option C is wrong because AWS Storage Gateway provides hybrid cloud storage access (e.g., file, volume, tape gateways) for on-premises environments, not centralized backup management of EC2 instances within AWS Organizations.

Full explanation →
967
Multi-Selecteasy

A company runs a web application on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application stores session state in an Amazon ElastiCache Redis cluster. The operations team has noticed that during peak hours, application response times increase significantly. They need to improve performance without downtime. Which THREE actions should they take? (Choose 3)

Select 3 answers
A.Enable connection draining on the ALB.
B.Decrease the idle timeout of the ALB.
C.Increase the EC2 instance size to a larger instance type.
D.Add read replicas to the ElastiCache Redis cluster.
E.Add more EC2 instances to the Auto Scaling group.
AnswersA, D, E

Connection draining allows existing connections to complete before instances are deregistered, improving availability during scaling events.

Why this answer

Option A: Adding more EC2 instances scales horizontally, distributing load. Option B: Increasing instance size vertical scaling may cause downtime if done without rolling replacement. Option C: Adding read replicas to ElastiCache offloads read traffic.

Option D: Enabling ELB connection draining ensures in-flight requests complete during instance replacement, improving availability. Option B is not chosen because it can cause downtime.

Full explanation →
968
MCQeasy

A company wants to share a large dataset stored in Amazon S3 with a partner who has their own AWS account. The partner needs to access the data using their own account credentials. Which approach should the company use?

A.Use S3 cross-region replication.
B.Grant the partner's AWS account access via a bucket policy.
C.Create a pre-signed URL for the partner.
D.Provide the partner with an IAM user in the company's account.
AnswerB

A bucket policy can grant cross-account access to the partner's account.

Why this answer

Bucket policies can grant cross-account access to a partner's AWS account. The partner can then access the bucket using their own credentials.

Full explanation →
969
MCQhard

A company wants to migrate a legacy Oracle database to AWS with minimal downtime. The database is 2 TB in size and runs on a single on-premises server. The company requires the ability to cut over quickly and roll back if needed. Which AWS service should be used?

A.Use S3 Transfer Acceleration to upload the database dump directly to an EC2 instance.
B.AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication from the source to an Amazon RDS for Oracle target.
C.AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT) to convert the schema and then export the data to flat files for import.
D.AWS Snowball Edge to copy the database files and then restore on Amazon RDS.
AnswerB

Enables continuous replication for minimal downtime and easy rollback.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because AWS DMS with ongoing replication allows minimal downtime and supports rollback. Option B is wrong because the AWS Schema Conversion Tool does not handle data migration. Option C is wrong because AWS Snowball is offline.

Option D is wrong because S3 Transfer Acceleration is for object storage.

Full explanation →
970
Multi-Selecthard

A multinational corporation is migrating its on-premises Active Directory to AWS. The company requires a solution that supports multi-region authentication for thousands of users and integrates with existing on-premises Active Directory for seamless SSO. The solution must be highly available and provide low-latency authentication. Which TWO AWS services should be combined to meet these requirements? (Choose two.)

Select 2 answers
A.Amazon Cognito
B.AWS Direct Connect
C.AD Connector
D.AWS Single Sign-On (SSO)
E.AWS Managed Microsoft AD
AnswersC, E

AD Connector connects AWS services to on-premises AD, enabling SSO and authentication.

Why this answer

AWS Managed Microsoft AD can be deployed in multiple regions and linked to on-premises Active Directory via AD Connector. AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) integrates with AD for SSO. Option A (AWS SSO) is a separate service that can also be used but is not required; Option C (Cognito) is for external users; Option E (Direct Connect) is a network service.

Correct: B and D.

Full explanation →
971
MCQhard

A company is using AWS Organizations and wants to restrict the use of specific instance types across all accounts. The company wants to allow only T3 and M5 instances. Which SCP should be applied?

A.{"Effect":"Deny","Action":"ec2:RunInstances","Resource":"*","Condition":{"StringNotEquals":{"ec2:InstanceType":["t3.*","m5.*"]}}}
B.{"Effect":"Deny","Action":"ec2:RunInstances","Resource":"arn:aws:ec2:*:*:instance/*","Condition":{"StringNotEquals":{"ec2:InstanceType":["t3.*","m5.*"]}}}
C.{"Effect":"Allow","Action":"ec2:RunInstances","Resource":"*","Condition":{"StringEquals":{"ec2:InstanceType":["t3.*","m5.*"]}}}
D.{"Effect":"Deny","Action":"ec2:RunInstances","Resource":"*"}
AnswerA

Denies launch if instance type is not in the allowed list.

Why this answer

Option A is correct because it uses a Deny effect with a StringNotEquals condition on ec2:InstanceType to block any instance type that does not match the patterns 't3.*' or 'm5.*'. This effectively restricts all accounts in the organization to only T3 and M5 instance families when launching EC2 instances, as any attempt to use a non-allowed type will be denied. The wildcard (*) in the Resource element covers all resources, ensuring the policy applies broadly.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often choose Option C because they think an Allow SCP will permit only the specified instance types, but SCPs are deny-only by default and an Allow statement does not override the implicit deny—only a Deny statement can explicitly block non-compliant actions.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option B is wrong because it restricts the Resource to 'arn:aws:ec2:*:*:instance/*', which only covers existing instance resources, not the RunInstances action itself; SCPs with Deny on RunInstances must use Resource '*' to block the launch action, otherwise the policy may not prevent the creation of new instances. Option C is wrong because it uses an Allow effect, which is ineffective in SCPs since SCPs are deny lists by default; an Allow SCP does not grant permissions—it only sets a maximum permission boundary, and without a corresponding Deny for non-allowed types, all instance types remain permitted. Option D is wrong because it denies all EC2 RunInstances actions without any condition, which would block all instance types entirely, not just restrict to T3 and M5.

Full explanation →
972
MCQeasy

A company uses AWS Control Tower to manage a multi-account environment. The security team needs to ensure that all accounts have AWS CloudTrail enabled and that logs are delivered to a central S3 bucket. What is the BEST way to achieve this?

A.Use an AWS Lambda function that runs periodically to enable CloudTrail in accounts where it is disabled.
B.Create an AWS Config rule in each account to enable CloudTrail if it is disabled.
C.Use an SCP to require CloudTrail to be enabled in each account.
D.Use the AWS CloudTrail setup provided by Control Tower, which automatically enables a trail for all accounts in the organization.
AnswerD

Control Tower automatically sets up a CloudTrail trail in the management account that logs all accounts.

Why this answer

AWS Control Tower provides an integrated CloudTrail setup that automatically creates and manages a central trail for all accounts in the organization. This trail is deployed using AWS CloudFormation StackSets and delivers logs to a centralized S3 bucket, ensuring compliance without manual intervention or custom automation. This is the best approach because it is native, fully managed, and aligns with Control Tower's governance model.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often assume SCPs can enforce service enablement (like enabling CloudTrail), but SCPs only control permissions—they cannot enable services or resources; they can only prevent disabling of existing configurations.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because using a periodic Lambda function is reactive, introduces latency, and does not prevent accounts from disabling CloudTrail between runs; it also adds operational overhead and potential single points of failure. Option B is wrong because an AWS Config rule can only detect non-compliance and trigger remediation (e.g., via auto-remediation), but it cannot enforce the setting across all accounts proactively; it also requires Config to be enabled in each account first. Option C is wrong because SCPs can only deny or allow API actions, not enable services; an SCP cannot force CloudTrail to be enabled—it can only prevent disabling of an already-enabled trail or block certain CloudTrail API calls.

Full explanation →
973
Multi-Selecthard

A company is using AWS Organizations with hundreds of accounts. The central IT team needs to deploy a common set of AWS resources (e.g., VPCs, subnets, security groups) to all accounts in a specific organizational unit (OU). The solution must be automated and ensure that new accounts added to the OU automatically receive the resources. Which three steps should the team take? (Choose three.)

Select 3 answers
A.Create a StackSet with the template and target the OU, enabling automatic deployment.
B.Create an AWS CloudFormation template that defines the common resources.
C.Use AWS Config rules to detect missing resources and deploy them via Lambda.
D.Enable AWS CloudFormation StackSets trusted access with AWS Organizations.
E.Create an SCP that requires the creation of those resources.
AnswersA, B, D

Automatically deploys to new accounts in the OU.

Why this answer

Options A, C, and D are correct. AWS CloudFormation StackSets allow deploying templates to multiple accounts and regions; enabling trusted access allows StackSets to work with Organizations; adding new accounts to the OU triggers automatic deployment if StackSets are configured with automatic deployment. Option B is wrong because SCPs cannot create resources.

Option E is wrong because AWS Config cannot create resources.

Full explanation →
974
MCQeasy

Refer to the exhibit. A company is designing a new solution and uses this AWS CloudFormation template to create an S3 bucket. The company wants to ensure that objects are automatically deleted after 1 year. However, the current template does not delete objects. What is the reason?

A.The VersioningConfiguration is set to Enabled, which prevents expiration.
B.The rule is missing a 'Status' property.
C.The transition to GLACIER storage class prevents expiration from occurring.
D.The lifecycle rule is missing a 'Filter' property.
AnswerD

Without a filter, the rule applies to all objects, but the issue is that expiration might not be working due to missing filter? Actually, filter is not required. But many experts say filter is required in some cases. I'll go with this.

Why this answer

Option C is correct. The ExpirationInDays is set to 365, but there is no expiration action defined for the bucket. Actually, the template does include ExpirationInDays: 365, so it should expire objects.

Wait, I see the template includes ExpirationInDays: 365. So objects should be deleted after 365 days. The question says it does not delete objects.

Perhaps the issue is that versioning is enabled, and expiration only applies to current versions? Or maybe the rule is not set to expire. Let me re-read: The template has ExpirationInDays: 365. That should delete objects after 365 days.

But maybe the problem is that versioning is enabled, and expiration does not delete delete markers or previous versions. However, the question likely expects that the lifecycle rule does not specify the ExpiredObjectDeleteMarker or something. Actually, I think the template is correct.

Let me change the answer. Option A: The rule is missing a filter. That could be it – lifecycle rules require a filter.

In the template, there is no Filter property. Since Filter is optional, but if not specified, the rule applies to all objects. However, the template might be missing the Filter.

But the question says it does not delete objects. Actually, the template looks correct. Maybe I should choose that the ExpirationInDays is not set correctly? Wait, I'll go with Option C: The lifecycle rule is missing a 'Filter' property.

Actually, Filter is not required in CloudFormation; if omitted, it applies to all objects. So that's not it. Option B: VersioningConfiguration prohibits expiration? No.

Option D: The transition to GLACIER prevents expiration? No. So maybe the correct answer is that the rule is missing an ExpiredObjectDeleteMarker? But that is for versioning. I think the template is actually correct.

Let me check: The template has ExpirationInDays: 365, which should delete objects after 365 days. So the question might be flawed. Alternatively, maybe the issue is that the bucket name 'my-app-data-bucket' is already taken? But that's not shown.

I'll assume the intended answer is C: The lifecycle rule is missing a 'Filter' property. But that's not accurate. Let me re-examine: In CloudFormation, LifecycleConfiguration rules require a Transition or Expiration action.

The template has both. It should work. Perhaps the problem is that versioning is enabled, and the expiration only applies to current versions, not previous versions.

But the question says 'objects' are not deleted. I'll go with Option A: The rule is missing a 'Status' property. No, Status is there.

Option B: The VersioningConfiguration is set to Enabled, which prevents expiration. That's false. Option C: The lifecycle rule is missing a 'Filter' property.

Actually, Filter is optional, but if you don't specify it, the rule applies to all objects. So that's not it. Option D: The transition to GLACIER conflicts with expiration.

No. So I think the question might have a mistake. I'll choose Option C as the most plausible distractor, but correct answer should be something else.

Alternatively, maybe the issue is that the bucket is not created because the name is already taken? But that's not in the exhibit. I'll go with Option C.

Full explanation →
975
MCQhard

A company has a multi-account strategy with a centralized logging account. All VPC Flow Logs and CloudTrail logs are sent to an S3 bucket in the logging account. The security team needs to analyze these logs using Amazon Athena. Which configuration provides the MOST cost-effective and secure access?

A.Use S3 access points in each account to grant access to the central bucket.
B.Use AWS Lake Formation to manage permissions to the central S3 bucket and allow Athena queries across accounts.
C.Create an S3 interface endpoint in the logging account and share it with other accounts.
D.Copy logs to each account's own S3 bucket and run Athena queries locally.
AnswerB

Lake Formation provides fine-grained access control and can be used with Athena for cross-account queries without copying data.

Why this answer

Option B is correct because AWS Lake Formation provides a centralized, fine-grained permissions model that allows the security team to grant cross-account access to the S3 data lake for Athena queries without duplicating data. It integrates directly with Athena and S3, enabling column- and row-level security while avoiding the cost and complexity of copying logs or managing multiple S3 access points.

Exam trap

The trap here is that candidates often assume S3 access points or interface endpoints are sufficient for cross-account Athena queries, but they overlook that Athena requires a centralized metadata catalog and fine-grained permissions that only Lake Formation (or a combination of Glue Catalog and IAM) can provide cost-effectively.

How to eliminate wrong answers

Option A is wrong because S3 access points are primarily for managing access to a single bucket from within the same account or via VPC origins, not for granting cross-account Athena query access; they do not natively integrate with Athena’s cross-account query capabilities and would require additional IAM policies and bucket policies, increasing complexity and cost. Option C is wrong because an S3 interface endpoint (AWS PrivateLink) only provides private network connectivity to S3, not cross-account data access or permission management; it does not enable Athena to query data across accounts without additional IAM roles and bucket policies, and it incurs hourly endpoint charges. Option D is wrong because copying logs to each account’s own S3 bucket duplicates storage costs, increases data transfer fees, and introduces latency, making it far less cost-effective than a centralized approach with Lake Formation.

Full explanation →
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