SOA-C02 Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation Practice Question
Network Topology
A SysOps Administrator attempted to update a CloudFormation stack. The stack update failed and is now in UPDATE_ROLLBACK_IN_PROGRESS state as shown in the exhibit. What should the administrator do to recover the stack to a stable state?
⚠ Common exam trap
SOA-C02 often tests the misconception that manual intervention is needed during an in-progress rollback, when the correct action is to wait for CloudFormation to complete the rollback automatically.
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
✓
Wait for the rollback to complete and then investigate the failure reason.
When a CloudFormation stack update fails and enters UPDATE_ROLLBACK_IN_PROGRESS, AWS CloudFormation is automatically rolling back the stack to its last known stable state. The administrator should wait for this rollback to complete, which will result in the stack returning to UPDATE_ROLLBACK_COMPLETE (or UPDATE_ROLLBACK_FAILED if rollback fails). After that, they can investigate the failure reason using stack events and then retry the update with corrections.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Wait for the rollback to complete and then investigate the failure reason.
Why this is correct
While the stack is in UPDATE_ROLLBACK_IN_PROGRESS, CloudFormation is automatically reverting resources to the last known good state. Any attempt to modify the stack—whether via delete, update, or change set execution—will be rejected because the stack is in a transient state. Once the rollback reaches UPDATE_ROLLBACK_COMPLETE, the Events tab in the AWS Console or describe-stack-events will show the exact failure reason (e.g., a parameter validation error or an EC2 resource failure). This diagnostic information is essential for correcting the template and retrying the update safely.
- ✗
Delete the stack and recreate it.
Why it's wrong here
Deleting the stack while it is still rolling back is not permitted by CloudFormation; the API will return an error such as 'Cannot delete object in state UPDATE_ROLLBACK_IN_PROGRESS.' Even after the stack returns to UPDATE_ROLLBACK_COMPLETE, deletion would destroy all resources created in the stack, including the pre-existing stable resources that CloudFormation is trying to preserve. You would also lose any data stored in resources like RDS databases or EBS volumes that could be retained through a rollback. The correct approach is to wait for the automatic rollback, which restores the previous state without the data loss and risk associated with deletion and re-creation.
- ✗
Manually update the Auto Scaling group to correct the issue.
Why it's wrong here
Manually adjusting the Auto Scaling group via the EC2 console or CLI creates drift between the actual resource configuration and the CloudFormation template. CloudFormation does not detect these out-of-band changes and will either overwrite them during a future stack operation or cause the stack to fall out of drift compliance. More importantly, a manual fix does not address the underlying template logic or resource property that caused the update to fail—the stack will still be in a rollback state, not in the desired updated state. Manual intervention can also make troubleshooting more confusing, as the resource state no longer matches the last template revision.
- ✗
Execute a change set to fix the failed resource.
Why it's wrong here
Executing a change set requires the stack to be in a stable state, such as UPDATE_COMPLETE or UPDATE_ROLLBACK_COMPLETE; if the stack is in UPDATE_ROLLBACK_IN_PROGRESS, CloudFormation will reject the execution with an error. Additionally, change sets are designed to preview and apply changes to a successfully updated stack, not to repair a failed update that has triggered rollback. Even if the change set targeted the failed resource, it would be based on the same invalid template that caused the failure, so it would likely fail again. The proper workflow is to wait for rollback to finish, correct the template, create a new change set with the fixed template, and then execute it.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
This SOA-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SOA-C02 exam.