SOA-C02 Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation Practice Question

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

• ✓

  Use EC2 Image Builder to define a component with the PowerShell scripts, create a recipe, and schedule a pipeline to run weekly.

  Why this is correct

  EC2 Image Builder is the purpose-built AWS service for producing golden AMIs. A component encapsulates the PowerShell script logic, a recipe bundles that component with a base image and OS settings, and a pipeline can be scheduled to run weekly to automatically build, validate, and register the AMI. It also supports post-build testing and cross-account/region distribution, giving a fully managed, auditable image lifecycle with minimal operational overhead.

• ✗

  Use AWS Systems Manager Automation to run a PowerShell script on an existing EC2 instance, then manually create an AMI each week.

  Why it's wrong here

  Systems Manager Automation can certainly run PowerShell scripts via an SSM runbook, but the described workflow still inserts a manual step to create the AMI from the instance. While you could build a custom automation runbook to create an AMI, this solution neither natively orchestrates the full image build/test/distribute cycle nor offers a managed schedule without extra configuration. The manual touch weekly raises the risk of human error, configuration drift, and missed maintenance — problems Image Builder is designed to eliminate.

• ✗

  Use AWS CodePipeline with CodeBuild to run the PowerShell scripts and create an AMI using the AWS CLI, triggered by a weekly CloudWatch Events schedule.

  Why it's wrong here

  CodeBuild is primarily designed for compiling code and building software artefacts in a containerised environment, not for provisioning and configuring an EC2 instance to create an AMI. While it can run AWS CLI commands, it lacks the native, managed workflow for instance-based software installation and AMI creation, which would increase operational overhead. CodePipeline with CodeBuild is excellent for CI/CD, such as building Docker images or deploying applications, and would be suitable if the goal was to build a software package for deployment rather than an immutable AMI.

• ✗

  Use Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling with a lifecycle hook to run the PowerShell script on instance launch, and schedule a weekly instance refresh.

  Why it's wrong here

  Auto Scaling lifecycle hooks only let you run code during instance launch or termination; they do not generate a reusable AMI. Every scale-out event would reinstall software at boot, which increases launch time and makes instances mutable rather than using a pre-baked golden image. A weekly instance refresh can replace instances, but it is a deployment mechanism for already-built AMIs, not an image factory — it adds operational friction without ever producing an artifact you can reuse in other environments or accounts.