SOA-C02 Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation Practice Question
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 SysOps administrator is creating an IAM policy for automation. The policy is attached to an IAM role used by an automated deployment script. The script needs to launch EC2 instances of type t2.micro and describe all EC2 resources. However, the script fails when trying to launch instances. What is the MOST likely reason?
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.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The policy does not grant permissions for additional resources required by RunInstances, such as images, network interfaces, and security groups.
The RunInstances API action requires permissions for not only the EC2 instance resource itself but also for dependent resources such as Amazon Machine Images (AMI), network interfaces, security groups, and key pairs. If the IAM policy only grants ec2:RunInstances on the instance resource ARN but omits these supporting resources, the launch will fail with an 'unauthorized operation' error. Option C correctly identifies this missing dependency.
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 Resource ARN for the instance is incorrect.
Why it's wrong here
The ARN is valid.
✗
The policy does not include the 'ec2:DescribeInstances' action.
Why it's wrong here
Describe* covers all describe actions.
✓
The policy does not grant permissions for additional resources required by RunInstances, such as images, network interfaces, and security groups.
Why this is correct
RunInstances requires permissions for multiple resource types.
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.
✗
The Condition key 'ec2:InstanceType' is misspelled.
Why it's wrong here
The key is correct.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume granting ec2:RunInstances on the instance resource is sufficient, overlooking that AWS requires explicit permissions for all dependent resources that are implicitly created or modified during instance launch.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, the RunInstances API call implicitly requires permissions for ec2:DescribeImages (to select the AMI), ec2:CreateNetworkInterface (for the ENI), ec2:AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress (if a security group is specified), and ec2:CreateTags (if tags are applied). AWS IAM evaluates all required actions before allowing the call; if any are missing, the entire request is denied. In real-world automation, this often manifests as a 'You are not authorized to perform this operation' error even when the primary action is allowed.
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 company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
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.
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 policy does not grant permissions for additional resources required by RunInstances, such as images, network interfaces, and security groups. — The RunInstances API action requires permissions for not only the EC2 instance resource itself but also for dependent resources such as Amazon Machine Images (AMI), network interfaces, security groups, and key pairs. If the IAM policy only grants ec2:RunInstances on the instance resource ARN but omits these supporting resources, the launch will fail with an 'unauthorized operation' error. Option C correctly identifies this missing dependency.
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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Question Discussion
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