Jeff’s Note #
Unlike generic exam dumps, ADH analyzes this scenario through the lens of a Real-World Lead Developer.
For DVA-C02 candidates, the confusion often lies in which AWS services best support version-controlled, repeatable infrastructure deployments. In production, this is about knowing exactly how to combine infrastructure as code with source control pipelines to enable safe staging, rollback, and multi-environment deployments. Let’s drill down.
The Certification Drill (Simulated Question) #
Scenario #
A software engineering team at FinNova Solutions is tasked with automating the provisioning of their entire AWS backend infrastructure. They anticipate creating multiple identical copies of the environment — for development, testing, and production. Additionally, they want to easily stage infrastructure changes and roll back if necessary. They must use AWS services to automate this with code, ensuring version control of infrastructure definitions alongside the application codebase.
The Requirement: #
Which solution best meets the needs for infrastructure as code with version control, allowing deployment of multiple identical stacks and easy rollback?
The Options #
- A) Use cost allocation reports and AWS OpsWorks to deploy and manage the infrastructure.
- B) Use Amazon CloudWatch metrics and alerts along with resource tagging to deploy and manage the infrastructure.
- C) Use AWS Elastic Beanstalk and AWS CodeCommit to deploy and manage the infrastructure.
- D) Use AWS CloudFormation and AWS CodeCommit to deploy and manage the infrastructure.
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Correct Answer #
D
Quick Insight: The Developer Imperative #
- Infrastructure as code requires declarative templates (CloudFormation)
- Version control is critical (CodeCommit) to enable rollbacks and stage changes safely
- Elastic Beanstalk manages application deployments but is not primarily for infrastructure provisioning
- OpsWorks is a configuration management service, not the ideal IaC tool here
- CloudWatch and tagging support monitoring, not provisioning
Combining CloudFormation with CodeCommit enables a robust deployment pipeline for infrastructure with version control and rollback capabilities.
Content Locked: The Expert Analysis #
You’ve identified the answer. But do you know the implementation details that separate a Junior from a Senior?
The Expert’s Analysis #
Correct Answer #
Option D
The Winning Logic #
AWS CloudFormation is the go-to service for defining and provisioning AWS infrastructure through declarative templates. It supports repeatable, predictable multi-stack deployments — exactly what FinNova Solutions requires for staging multiple identical environments. CodeCommit, as a fully managed Git repository, enables version control for these CloudFormation templates, making it easy to track changes, stage updates, and roll back to prior states if needed. This combination is industry standard for infrastructure as code workflows.
The Trap (Distractor Analysis): #
- Why not A? OpsWorks focuses on server configuration management rather than core infrastructure provisioning; cost allocation reports are irrelevant to deployment workflows.
- Why not B? CloudWatch and resource tagging are monitoring and organization tools, not deployment or version control mechanisms.
- Why not C? Elastic Beanstalk abstracts infrastructure management for applications, but it is not intended for managing complex infrastructure stacks or versioning infrastructure as code.
The Technical Blueprint #
# Example CLI snippet to deploy a CloudFormation stack from a template stored in CodeCommit:
aws cloudformation deploy \
--template-file infrastructure.yaml \
--stack-name finnova-backend-stage \
--capabilities CAPABILITY_IAM
The developer commits CloudFormation templates to CodeCommit and uses automated pipeline or CLI calls to deploy and manage stacks.
The Comparative Analysis #
| Option | API Complexity | Performance | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Medium (OpsWorks APIs) | Moderate | Configuration management, not IaC |
| B | Low (Monitoring APIs) | N/A | Monitoring & tagging, not deployment |
| C | Low-Medium (EB APIs) | High | Application deployment, limited infra control |
| D | Medium (CloudFormation APIs) | High | Full infrastructure lifecycle & versioning |
Real-World Application (Practitioner Insight) #
Exam Rule #
“For the exam, always pick CloudFormation paired with a source control service like CodeCommit when you see keywords like ‘deploy multiple identical copies,’ ‘version control,’ and ‘rollback.’”
Real World #
“In practice, teams may also use Terraform, CDK, or third-party CI/CD tools. But the exam focuses on CloudFormation + CodeCommit as AWS-native best practice.”
(CTA) Stop Guessing, Start Mastering #
Disclaimer
This is a study note based on simulated scenarios for the AWS DVA-C02 exam.