← SOA-C02·Amazon Web Services

Question 1,474 of 1,546

Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

How to Solve CloudFormation Resource Cancelled Due to vCPU Limit

This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of deployment, provisioning, and automation. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.

A company is using AWS CloudFormation to deploy a web application. The stack creation fails with the error 'Resource creation cancelled' for an EC2 instance. The instance type is t3.micro, and the AMI ID is specified in the template. Which of the following is the most likely cause of the failure?

Clue words in this question

Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.

Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.

A
The instance type 't3.micro' is not available in the region.
Why wrong: t3.micro is available in all regions.
B
The instance type is invalid for the specified AMI.
Why wrong: t3.micro is a valid instance type for most AMIs.
C
The AMI ID is not specified for the region.
Why wrong: The AMI ID is provided in the template; if it were missing, a different error would occur.
D
The account has reached the vCPU limit for On-Demand Instances in the region.
CloudFormation cancels resource creation if the account exceeds its vCPU limit. The limit must be increased via a support request.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

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

✓

The account has reached the vCPU limit for On-Demand Instances in the region.

The error 'Resource creation cancelled' typically occurs when CloudFormation attempts to create a resource but the operation is aborted due to a service limit. In this case, the account has reached the vCPU limit for On-Demand Instances in the region, which prevents the t3.micro instance from being launched. CloudFormation does not automatically handle service limits; it will fail the stack creation with this error when the EC2 API returns an 'InstanceLimitExceeded' exception.

Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

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

✗
The instance type 't3.micro' is not available in the region.
Why it's wrong here
t3.micro is available in all regions.
✗
The instance type is invalid for the specified AMI.
Why it's wrong here
t3.micro is a valid instance type for most AMIs.
✗
The AMI ID is not specified for the region.
Why it's wrong here
The AMI ID is provided in the template; if it were missing, a different error would occur.
✓
The account has reached the vCPU limit for On-Demand Instances in the region.
Why this is correct
CloudFormation cancels resource creation if the account exceeds its vCPU limit. The limit must be increased via a support request.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates often confuse 'Resource creation cancelled' with a resource dependency or configuration issue, but it specifically indicates a service quota or limit exceeded during the creation attempt.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

AWS service quotas (formerly limits) for EC2 On-Demand instances are region-specific and default to 5 vCPUs for new accounts. When CloudFormation calls the RunInstances API, if the request would exceed the vCPU limit, EC2 returns an 'InstanceLimitExceeded' error, which CloudFormation translates into a 'Resource creation cancelled' status. This is different from a 'LimitExceeded' error for other resources like VPCs or subnets, which may have different error messages.

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.

TExam Day Tips

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.

Key takeaway

Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.

Real-world example

How this comes up in practice

A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.

What to study next

Got this wrong? Here's your next step.

Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this SOA-C02 question test?

Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation — This question tests Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: The account has reached the vCPU limit for On-Demand Instances in the region. — The error 'Resource creation cancelled' typically occurs when CloudFormation attempts to create a resource but the operation is aborted due to a service limit. In this case, the account has reached the vCPU limit for On-Demand Instances in the region, which prevents the t3.micro instance from being launched. CloudFormation does not automatically handle service limits; it will fail the stack creation with this error when the EC2 API returns an 'InstanceLimitExceeded' exception.

What should I do if I get this SOA-C02 question wrong?

Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.

Are there clue words in this question I should notice?

Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

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