Question 1easymultiple choice
Full question →easymultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company's security policy requires that all IAM user passwords must be at least 12 characters long. The SysOps administrator needs to enforce this requirement across the AWS account. Which action should the administrator take?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Distractor review
Create an AWS Config rule to check password length and auto-remediate.
An AWS Config rule can detect passwords that do not meet the length requirement after they are set, but it cannot prevent users from setting short passwords in the first place. It is not a preventative control.
B
Best answer
Update the IAM account password policy to require a minimum length of 12 characters.
The IAM password policy is the native way to enforce password complexity requirements at the account level. When enabled, users must comply when creating or changing their passwords.
C
Distractor review
Enable AWS CloudTrail to monitor for password changes and alert the administrator.
CloudTrail logs API calls, including password changes, but it does not enforce password length. It only provides auditing information.
D
Distractor review
Attach a service control policy (SCP) that denies IAM user creation if the password is less than 12 characters.
SCPs cannot evaluate the content of a password during user creation. They can restrict IAM actions but not enforce specific password attributes.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- 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.
Related practice questions
Related SOA-C02 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A company uses Amazon CloudFront to deliver content to a global audience. The origin is an Application Load Balancer in us-east-1. The SysOps administrator wants to reduce costs by minimizing the number of requests that reach the origin server. Which action should the administrator take?
Question 2
A company runs a batch processing application on Amazon EC2 that runs for 2 hours every night. The workload can tolerate interruptions. Which EC2 purchasing option provides the lowest cost for this use case?
Question 3
A SysOps administrator needs to monitor the CPU utilization of an Amazon RDS DB instance and receive an alarm when CPU utilization exceeds 80% for 5 consecutive minutes. Which AWS service should be used to create this alarm?
Question 4
A company runs a critical web application on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application uses session stickiness (sticky sessions) to maintain user sessions. The SysOps administrator notices that when instances are replaced during a scale-in or failure event, users lose their session data. The administrator needs to preserve session data across instance failures without losing stickiness benefits. What should the administrator do?
Question 5
A company runs a production web application on a single Amazon EC2 instance. The application experiences a predictable and steady workload 24/7. The SysOps administrator wants to minimize compute costs for this instance while ensuring it remains available during the expected workload. Which EC2 purchasing option should the administrator use?
Question 6
A company has a VPC with public and private subnets. The private subnets host application servers that need to make outbound HTTPS connections to the internet. The SysOps administrator must implement a solution that provides outbound internet connectivity while preventing inbound connections from the internet. Additionally, the solution must allow the company to control which domains the application servers can access. Which solution should the administrator implement?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SOA-C02 question test?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Update the IAM account password policy to require a minimum length of 12 characters. — IAM account password policies are configured in the IAM service. The administrator can set parameters such as minimum password length, require specific character types, and set expiration. This policy applies to all IAM users in the account. Options that use AWS Config, CloudTrail, or SCPs can audit or enforce compliance, but the direct method to set the password requirement is to update the IAM account password policy. AWS Config rules can detect non-compliance but do not enforce the policy on user creation. CloudTrail records events but does not enforce. SCPs can restrict IAM actions but not password complexity.
What should I do if I get this SOA-C02 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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