PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Question
A company is using AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager to patch a fleet of EC2 instances. The instances are in a patch group and have the SSM Agent installed. After a patching operation, the operations team notices that some instances did not apply the patches. The instances show a status of 'Failed' in the Patch Manager console. Which TWO steps should the team take to troubleshoot and resolve the issue? (Choose TWO.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers assume the IAM role (Option B) is the primary cause of failure, but the question already indicates the SSM Agent is installed and the instances show a 'Failed' status, which often points to agent communication or execution errors rather than missing permissions.
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
✓
Verify that the SSM Agent on the failed instances is running and is able to communicate with the Systems Manager service.
If the SSM Agent is not running or cannot communicate with the AWS Systems Manager service, Patch Manager cannot execute the patching commands. The agent must be in a healthy state and have network connectivity (e.g., via VPC endpoints or internet gateway) to receive the patch baseline and report status. Option D is correct because the AWS-RunPatchBashelline SSM document execution history in Run Command provides detailed logs and error messages for each instance, allowing the team to identify why the patching failed, such as missing dependencies or timeout issues.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Assign the patch baseline to the instance IDs directly.
Why it's wrong here
Patch baselines are assigned to patch groups, not individual instances.
- ✗
Ensure that the instances have the appropriate IAM role that allows them to be patched.
Why it's wrong here
While necessary, this is a prerequisite and not a troubleshooting step for specific failures.
- ✓
Verify that the SSM Agent on the failed instances is running and is able to communicate with the Systems Manager service.
Why this is correct
The SSM Agent must be online to execute patching commands.
- ✓
Check the output of the AWS-RunPatchBaseline SSM document in the Systems Manager Run Command history for the failed instances.
Why this is correct
The command output provides error details for troubleshooting.
- ✗
Configure a Maintenance Window for the patching operation.
Why it's wrong here
Maintenance Windows are optional; patching can be done on demand.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PAS-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PAS-C01 exam.