Question 1easymultiple choice
Full question →easymultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A SysOps administrator maintains an AWS CloudFormation stack that deploys an Amazon EC2 instance. The administrator needs to change the instance type from t2.micro to t3.micro. The administrator wants to review the proposed changes before applying them to ensure no unexpected resource replacement occurs. Which CloudFormation feature should the administrator use?
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
Use the AWS CloudFormation console to directly update the stack with the new instance type and monitor the events.
Directly updating the stack will apply changes immediately without a preview. The administrator cannot review potential replacements beforehand.
B
Best answer
Create a change set from the updated template, review the changes, and then execute the change set.
A change set provides a detailed summary of changes (add, modify, replace) before execution. This allows the administrator to see if the instance will be replaced or updated in place.
C
Distractor review
Use the AWS CloudFormation drift detection feature to check for differences between the stack and the template.
Drift detection compares the current stack resources with the expected template state, not the other way around. It does not preview proposed changes.
D
Distractor review
Modify the CloudFormation template locally and use the AWS CLI to validate it with 'aws cloudformation validate-template'.
The validate-template command only checks syntax and parameter validity. It does not show how the changes would affect existing resources.
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: Create a change set from the updated template, review the changes, and then execute the change set. — AWS CloudFormation Change Sets allow you to preview how proposed changes to a stack will impact the running resources. They show a list of modifications, including whether a resource will be replaced (physical ID change) or updated in place. Using a change set, the administrator can review the effects before executing the update. Directly updating the stack or using drift detection do not provide a preview. Using the AWS CLI to modify the template alone does not show the impact.
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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