- A
Create an IAM role in each member account that trusts the backup account and allows backup and restore actions.
Cross-account role assumption is the standard pattern.
- B
Create a customer managed key in the backup account and share it with member accounts.
Why wrong: KMS is optional.
- C
Grant the backup account full S3 access to member account buckets.
Why wrong: Backups are stored in AWS Backup vaults, not S3.
- D
Enable AWS Config in member accounts to track backup compliance.
Why wrong: Not required for backup functionality.
Question 272 of 1,746
AWS Backup Cross-Account IAM Role Permissions
This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design solutions for organizational complexity. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company is designing a cross-account backup strategy using AWS Backup. They have a central backup account that needs to manage backups for multiple member accounts. What is the minimal set of permissions required?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create an IAM role in each member account that trusts the backup account and allows backup and restore actions.
Option A is correct because AWS Backup requires cross-account IAM roles to delegate backup and restore permissions. The central backup account assumes an IAM role in each member account that has a trust policy allowing the backup account's IAM entity to perform backup and restore actions. This is the minimal set of permissions needed to manage backups across accounts without granting broader access.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Create an IAM role in each member account that trusts the backup account and allows backup and restore actions.
Why this is correct
Cross-account role assumption is the standard pattern.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Create a customer managed key in the backup account and share it with member accounts.
Why it's wrong here
KMS is optional.
- ✗
Grant the backup account full S3 access to member account buckets.
Why it's wrong here
Backups are stored in AWS Backup vaults, not S3.
- ✗
Enable AWS Config in member accounts to track backup compliance.
Why it's wrong here
Not required for backup functionality.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often think sharing a KMS key or enabling a monitoring service like AWS Config is sufficient for cross-account backup permissions, but AWS Backup requires explicit IAM role delegation via sts:AssumeRole for the backup account to act in member accounts.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, AWS Backup uses a service-linked role (AWSServiceRoleForBackup) in each account, but for cross-account backups, you must create a custom IAM role in the member account with a trust policy that specifies the backup account's root or IAM entity as a trusted principal. The role must include the AWSBackupServiceRolePolicyForBackup and AWSBackupServiceRolePolicyForRestores managed policies. The backup account then uses sts:AssumeRole to assume that role, enabling it to perform backup and restore actions in the member account without storing long-term credentials.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAP-C02 question test?
Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — This question tests Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create an IAM role in each member account that trusts the backup account and allows backup and restore actions. — Option A is correct because AWS Backup requires cross-account IAM roles to delegate backup and restore permissions. The central backup account assumes an IAM role in each member account that has a trust policy allowing the backup account's IAM entity to perform backup and restore actions. This is the minimal set of permissions needed to manage backups across accounts without granting broader access.
What should I do if I get this SAP-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more ways this is tested on SAP-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company is designing a cross-account backup strategy using AWS Backup. The backup policy must be centrally managed from the management account. Which TWO steps are required to implement this?
medium- A.Create IAM roles in each member account to allow AWS Backup to assume them.
- B.Create a separate backup policy for each member account.
- ✓ C.Create a backup vault in the management account and share it with member accounts.
- D.Create a backup vault in each member account and aggregate them using AWS Config.
- ✓ E.Enable AWS Backup as a trusted service within AWS Organizations.
Why C: Options C and E are correct. Option A is incorrect because IAM roles are not created automatically for AWS Backup; instead, the backup policy is applied via AWS Organizations. Option B is incorrect because a single backup policy can be applied to the entire organization or specific organizational units, not per account. Option D is incorrect because the backup vault should be in the management account, not in each member account. Option E is correct because enabling AWS Backup as a trusted service within AWS Organizations allows the management account to centrally manage backup policies across member accounts. Option C is correct because sharing the backup vault from the management account allows member accounts to store backups in the central vault.
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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
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