SOA-C02 Exam Dumps - Amazon Web Services AWS Certified Associate Questions and Answers

Step-by-Step Explanation:

Understand the Problem:

Manage a database password securely and rotate it every 90 days.

Analyze the Requirements:

Ensure secure management and automatic rotation of the database password.

Minimize manual intervention and risk of exposing the password.

Evaluate the Options:

Option A: Use the AWS SecretsManager Secret resource with the GenerateSecretString property.

Secrets Manager can automatically generate a strong password.

The RotationSchedule resource defines a rotation schedule to rotate the password every 90 days.

Option B: Use the AWS SecretsManager Secret resource with the SecretString property.

Requires accepting a password as a CloudFormation parameter and does not automate password generation.

Option C: Use the AWS SSM Parameter resource.

AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store can store secure strings, but it does not support automatic rotation.

Option D: Use the AWS SSM Parameter resource without secure string.

This option does not offer the security of Secrets Manager and does not support automatic rotation.

Select the Best Solution:

Option A: Using AWS Secrets Manager with the GenerateSecretString property and RotationSchedule resource ensures secure management and automatic rotation of the database password.

AWS Secrets Manager

Rotate AWS Secrets Manager Secrets

AWS Secrets Manager provides secure storage, automatic rotation, and seamless integration with applications for accessing secrets.

To provide the ability to recover deleted EBS snapshots for a specified period, creating a Recycle Bin retention rule for EBS snapshots is the appropriate solution.

Recycle Bin:

The Recycle Bin for Amazon EBS snapshots allows you to recover snapshots that were deleted within a specified retention period.

Creating a Retention Rule:

Open the Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager console.

Create a new Recycle Bin retention rule for EBS snapshots and specify the desired retention period.

Amazon EBS Recycle Bin

To block traffic to a specific external IP address that has been identified as suspicious by GuardDuty, you should use a network ACL to add an outbound deny rule.

Create or Update Network ACL:

Open the Amazon VPC console at Amazon VPC Console.

Select Network ACLs in the navigation pane.

Create a new network ACL or select an existing one that is associated with the subnet containing the EC2 instance.

Add Outbound Deny Rule:

Choose Inbound Rules or Outbound Rules and then choose Edit rules.

Add a new rule to deny traffic to the specific external IP address.

Rule Number: Choose a rule number that is not used by another rule.

Type: All traffic or specific to the protocol and port.

Destination: The external IP address identified by GuardDuty.

Allow/Deny: Deny

Apply Changes:

Save the rule and ensure it is active.

Using a network ACL to block traffic at the subnet level provides an additional layer of security.

Network ACLs

Working with Network ACLs

To allow on-premises servers to resolve DNS records in an Amazon Route 53 private hosted zone via AWS Direct Connect, the following step should be taken:

A: Create a Route 53 Resolver inbound endpoint and attach a security group that allows inbound traffic on TCP/UDP port 53 from the on-premises DNS servers. This setup enables the on-premises DNS servers to forward DNS queries to AWS for the domains managed by Route 53. The inbound resolver endpoint acts as a bridge between the on-premises network and AWS for DNS resolution. Additional guidance on setting up Route 53 Resolver endpoints can be found in AWS documentation Route 53 Resolver.

To share Amazon RDS database snapshots between different accounts while ensuring all data is encrypted at rest, follow these steps:

Update the KMS Key Policy:

Navigate to the AWS KMS console.

Select the KMS key used to encrypt the RDS snapshots.

Update the key policy to grant the relevant AWS accounts permission to use the key.

Objective:

Provide a static IP address that the vendor can whitelist for accessing the application.

Using Network Load Balancer (NLB):

Unlike Application Load Balancers, NLBs support static IP addresses through Elastic IPs.

NLBs operate at the transport layer (Layer 4) and are ideal for use cases requiring a static IP.

Steps to Implement:

Step 1: Create an NLB in the same VPC as the application.

Step 2: Associate Elastic IP addresses with the NLB subnets.

Step 3: Update the target group to point to the existing EC2 instances.

Step 4: Update DNS records to map the application domain (www.example.com) to the NLB 's static IP or DNS name.

AWS References:

Elastic IPs with NLB:Static IPs for NLB

NLB vs. ALB:Comparison of Load Balancers

Why Other Options Are Incorrect:

Option A: ALBs do not support Elastic IPs.

Option B: AWS WAF is for web access control, not providing static IPs.

Option C: VPC endpoints do not replace load balancers and are unrelated to static IP requirements.

Using ALB health checks in the Auto Scaling group will provide more accurate health monitoring and replace instances if they are unhealthy.

ALB Health Checks: Configure health checks based on HTTP response codes, which will detect application-level issues causing the HTTP 500 errors and replace instances as needed.

EC2 vs. ALB Health Checks: EC2 status checks only verify instance hardware and OS, not the application’s responsiveness. By using ALB health checks, Auto Scaling can remove instances that are failing at the application level, thus preventing users from receiving 500 errors.

Replacing the ALB with a Network Load Balancer does not address HTTP 500 errors, and enabling session affinity does not resolve application health issues. The CloudWatch agent would not provide the required health check functionality for automated instance replacement.

 Group EC2 Instances Using Resource Groups:

Resource groups help organize and manage AWS resources based on tags and other criteria.

Steps:

Go to the AWS Management Console.

Navigate to AWS Resource Groups.

Create resource groups for similar EC2 instances based on tags or other criteria.

AWS Resource Groups

 Create a Schedule in Patch Manager:

AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager automates the process of patching managed instances.

Steps:

Go to the AWS Management Console.

Navigate to Systems Manager and select Patch Manager.

Create a patch baseline if not already created.

Create a schedule for patching and specify the resource group as the target.

Cluster placement groups are designed to place EC2 instances close together within a single Availability Zone, which reduces latency and maximizes network performance between instances.

Cluster Placement Group: Reduces network latency by keeping instances in close proximity within the same hardware, providing low-latency, high-throughput networking.

High Network Performance: Ideal for latency-sensitive applications, especially those running within a clustered architecture.

Spread placement groups are designed for high availability rather than low latency. Jumbo frames may improve throughput but not significantly reduce latency.

Step-by-Step Explanation:

AWS Budgets Overview:

AWS Budgets enables you to set custom cost and usage budgets, and it provides alerts when you exceed those thresholds. It is designed for cost management with minimal operational overhead.

Recurring Cost Budget Creation:

Go to the AWS Budgets Console.

Select Create a budget.

Choose the Cost budget option.

Define whether this budget tracks actual costs or forecasted costs (you will create two budgets, one for each).

Configure the Budget Thresholds:

Set your budget thresholds for both actual costs and forecasted costs.

For example:

Actual Costs Alert: Budget = $1000, Alert at 80% usage ($800).

Forecasted Costs Alert: Budget = $1000, Alert at forecasted usage exceeding 80% ($800).

Alert Configuration:

In the budget creation process, enable Notifications and Actions.

Specify the email addresses or an Amazon SNS Topic to receive alerts.

Set up alerts for both:

Actual Cost Exceeding Budget.

Forecasted Cost Exceeding Budget.

Amazon SNS Setup:

If using an SNS topic, ensure an Amazon SNS topic is created.

Grant appropriate permissions for the Budget service to publish to the SNS topic.

Add subscribers (e.g., email addresses or endpoints) to the SNS topic.

Automation and Monitoring:

Once set up, AWS Budgets continuously monitors actual and forecasted costs.

Alerts are sent automatically when thresholds are breached, reducing manual overhead and reliance on periodic monitoring.

Why This is the Best Option (Least Operational Overhead):

AWS Budgets directly integrates with SNS, allowing real-time alerts without building custom workflows or parsing reports.

It is a native AWS service specifically designed for cost tracking, minimizing complexity and setup time.

No custom code or additional services like Lambda or Step Functions are required, reducing operational maintenance.