Amazon DOP-C02 Practice Test - Questions Answers, Page 19

Short To meet the requirements of failover and disaster recovery, the company should use the following deployment strategies:

Create an Amazon Aurora global database in two AWS Regions as the data store. In the event of a failure, promote the secondary Region to the primary for the application. Update the application to use the Aurora cluster endpoint in the secondary Region. This strategy can provide a low RPO and RTO for the data, as Aurora global database replicates data with minimal latency across Regions and allows fast and easy failover12. The company can use the Amazon Aurora cluster endpoint to connect to the current primary DB cluster without needing to change any application code1.

Set up the application in two AWS Regions. Configure AWS Global Accelerator to point to Application Load Balancers (ALBs) in both Regions. Add both ALBs to a single endpoint group. Use health checks and Auto Scaling groups in each Region. This strategy can provide high availability and performance for the application, as AWS Global Accelerator uses the AWS global network to route traffic to the closest healthy endpoint3. The company can also use static IP addresses that are assigned by Global Accelerator as a fixed entry point for their application1. By using health checks and Auto Scaling groups, the company can ensure that their application can scale up or down based on demand and handle any instance failures4.

The other options are incorrect because:

Creating an Amazon Aurora Single-AZ cluster in multiple AWS Regions as the data store would not provide a fast failover or disaster recovery solution, as the company would need to manually restore data from backups or snapshots in another Region in case of a failure.

Creating an Amazon Aurora cluster in multiple AWS Regions as the data store and using a Network Load Balancer to balance the database traffic in different Regions would not work, as Network Load Balancers do not support cross-Region routing. Moreover, this strategy would not provide a consistent view of the data across Regions, as Aurora clusters do not replicate data automatically between Regions unless they are part of a global database.

Setting up the application in two AWS Regions and using Amazon Route 53 failover routing that points to Application Load Balancers in both Regions would not provide a low RTO, as Route 53 failover routing relies on DNS resolution, which can take time to propagate changes across different DNS servers and clients. Moreover, this strategy would not provide deterministic routing, as Route 53 failover routing depends on DNS caching behavior, which can vary depending on different factors.

To meet the requirements, the DevOps engineer needs to create a solution that joins all EC2 instances to the domain of the AWS Managed Microsoft AD directory with the most operational efficiency. The DevOps engineer can use AWS Systems Manager Automation to automate the domain join process using an existing runbook called AWS-JoinDirectoryServiceDomain. This runbook can join Windows instances to an AWS Managed Microsoft AD or Simple AD directory by using PowerShell commands. The DevOps engineer can create an AWS::SSM::Association resource in the CloudFormation template to associate the runbook with the EC2 instances that have specific tags. The tags can be defined in the launch template and propagated on launch to the EC2 instances. The DevOps engineer can also define the required parameters for the runbook, such as the directory ID, directory name, and organizational unit. The DevOps engineer can attach the AmazonSSMManagedlnstanceCore and AmazonSSMDirectoryServiceAccess AWS managed policies to the IAM role that the EC2 instances use. These policies grant the necessary permissions for Systems Manager and Directory Service operations.

To meet the requirements, the company needs to create a solution that alerts the Senior Manager when the creation of resources approaches the service limits for the account with the least amount of development effort. The company can use AWS Trusted Advisor, which is a service that provides best practice recommendations for cost optimization, performance, security, and service limits. The company can deploy an AWS Lambda function that refreshes Trusted Advisor checks, and configure an Amazon CloudWatch Events rule to run the Lambda function periodically. This will ensure that Trusted Advisor checks are up to date and reflect the current state of the account. The company can then create another CloudWatch Events rule with an event pattern matching Trusted Advisor events and a target Lambda function. The event pattern can filter for events related to service limit checks and their status. The target Lambda function can notify the Senior Manager via a third-party API call if the event indicates that the account is approaching or exceeding a service limit.

To optimize the Macie costs for the account without compromising the account's functionality, the DevOps engineer needs to exclude S3 buckets that do not contain sensitive data from automated discovery. S3 buckets that contain CloudTrail logs are unlikely to have sensitive data, and Macie charges for scanning and monitoring data in S3 buckets. Therefore, excluding S3 buckets that contain CloudTrail logs from automated discovery can reduce Macie costs. Similarly, configuring discovery jobs to include S3 objects based on the last modified criterion can also reduce Macie costs, as it will only scan and monitor new or updated objects, rather than all objects in the bucket.

To implement a control that requires the use of IMDSv2 on all EC2 instances in the account, the DevOps engineer can use a permissions boundary. A permissions boundary is a policy that defines the maximum permissions that an IAM entity can have. The DevOps engineer can create a permissions boundary that prevents the ec2:RunInstance action if the ec2:MetadataHttpTokens condition key is not set to a value of required. This condition key enforces the use of IMDSv2 on EC2 instances. The DevOps engineer can attach the permissions boundary to the IAM role that was used to launch the instance. This way, any attempt to launch an EC2 instance without using IMDSv2 will be denied by the permissions boundary.

To implement governance controls that restrict AWS service usage to within the United States and ensure alerts for any activity outside the governance policy, the following actions will meet the requirements:

A) Create an AWS Organizations SCP that denies access to all non-global services in non-US Regions. Attach the policy to the root of the organization.This action will effectively prevent users and roles in all accounts within the organization from accessing services in non-US Regions12.

B) Configure AWS CloudTrail to send logs to Amazon CloudWatch Logs and enable it for all Regions. Use a CloudWatch Logs metric filter to send an alert on any service activity in non-US Regions.This action will allow monitoring of all AWS Regions and will trigger alerts if any activity is detected in non-US Regions, ensuring that the governance team is notified as soon as possible3.

AWS Documentation on Service Control Policies (SCPs) and how they can be used to manage permissions and restrict access based on Regions12.

AWS Documentation on monitoring CloudTrail log files with Amazon CloudWatch Logs to set up alerts for specific activities3.

The best solution is to use AWS Config and AWS Security Hub to identify and remediate noncompliant resources across multiple AWS accounts. AWS Config enables continuous monitoring of the configuration of AWS resources and evaluates them against desired configurations. AWS Config can also automatically remediate noncompliant resources by using conformance packs, which are a collection of AWS Config rules and remediation actions that can be deployed as a single entity. AWS Security Hub provides a comprehensive view of the security posture of AWS accounts and resources. AWS Security Hub can aggregate and normalize the findings from AWS Config and other AWS services, as well as from partner solutions. AWS Security Hub can also be used to create a dashboard for tracking noncompliant resources and events in a centralized location.

The other options are not optimal because they either require more development overhead, do not provide near real time detection and remediation, or do not provide a centralized dashboard for tracking.

Option A is not optimal because CloudFormation drift detection is not a near real time solution. Drift detection has to be manually initiated on each stack or resource, or scheduled using a cron expression. Drift detection also does not provide remediation actions, so a custom Lambda function has to be developed and invoked. CloudWatch Logs and dashboard can be used for tracking, but they do not provide a comprehensive view of the security posture of the AWS accounts and resources.

Option B is not optimal because CloudTrail logs analysis using Athena is not a near real time solution. Athena queries have to be manually run or scheduled using a cron expression. Athena also does not provide remediation actions, so a custom Lambda function has to be developed and invoked. Step Functions can be used to orchestrate the query and remediation workflow, but it adds more complexity and cost. QuickSight dashboard can be used for tracking, but it does not provide a comprehensive view of the security posture of the AWS accounts and resources.

Option D is not optimal because CloudTrail logs analysis using CloudWatch Logs is not a near real time solution. CloudWatch Logs filters have to be manually created or updated for each resource type and configuration change. CloudWatch Logs also does not provide remediation actions, so a custom Lambda function has to be developed and invoked. EventBridge can be used to trigger the Lambda function, but it adds more complexity and cost. OpenSearch Service dashboard can be used for tracking, but it does not provide a comprehensive view of the security posture of the AWS accounts and resources.

AWS Config conformance packs

Introducing AWS Config conformance packs

Managing conformance packs across all accounts in your organization

The correct approach to meet the requirements for separate environment pipelines and automatic deployment for test environments is to create two AWS CodePipeline configurations, one for each environment. The production pipeline should have a manual approval step to ensure that changes are reviewed before being deployed to production. A single AWS CodeCommit repository with separate branches for each environment allows for organized and efficient code management. Each CodePipeline retrieves the source code from the appropriate branch in the repository. The deployment step utilizes AWS CloudFormation to deploy the Lambda functions, ensuring that the infrastructure as code is maintained and version-controlled.

AWS Lambda with Amazon API Gateway:Using AWS Lambda with Amazon API Gateway

Tutorial on using Lambda with API Gateway:Tutorial: Using Lambda with API Gateway

AWS CodePipeline automatic deployment:Set Up a Continuous Deployment Pipeline Using AWS CodePipeline

Building a pipeline for test and production stacks:Walkthrough: Building a pipeline for test and production stacks

The correct answer is D. Creating an AWS Config conformance pack that contains the AWS Config rules and remediation actions and deploying it from the delegated administrator account by using AWS Config will meet the requirements.A conformance pack is a collection of AWS Config rules and remediation actions that can be easily deployed as a single entity in an account and a region or across an organization in AWS Organizations1. By using the delegated administrator account, the DevOps engineer can centrally manage the conformance pack and prevent non-administrator users from modifying it in the member accounts. Option A is incorrect because creating a CloudFormation template that contains the AWS Config rules and remediation actions and deploying it from the Organizations management account by using CloudFormation StackSets will not prevent non-administrator users from modifying the AWS Config rules in the member accounts. Option B is incorrect because deploying the conformance pack from the Organizations management account by using CloudFormation StackSets will not use the trusted access feature of AWS Config and will require additional permissions and resources. Option C is incorrect because creating a CloudFormation template that contains the AWS Config rules and remediation actions and deploying it from the delegated administrator account by using AWS Config will not leverage the benefits of conformance packs, such as simplified deployment and management.Reference:

Conformance Packs - AWS Config

Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional (DOP-C02) Study Guide(page 176)