Free Practice Questions for Amazon Web Services SOA-C02 Exam

AWS Config rules can be used to automatically detect and remediate noncompliant resources, such as security groups that allow inbound traffic from 0.0.0.0/0.

Steps:

Create a Custom AWS Config Rule:

Open the AWS Config console.

Choose "Rules" and then "Add rule".

Create a custom rule or use a predefined rule such as security-group-rule-restricted.

Configure Remediation:

Use AWS Config to set up automatic remediation.

Define an AWS Systems Manager Automation document that changes the source address from 0.0.0.0/0 to the approved CIDR block.

Associate this automation document with the AWS Config rule.

Deploy Across Accounts:

Use AWS Config Aggregator to aggregate the compliance data across multiple accounts.

Ensure the remediation actions are consistently applied across all accounts.

Enabling the organizational view in AWS Health will allow the SysOps administrator to consolidate the alerts from each account’s Personal Health Dashboard. It will also provide the administrator with a single view of all the accounts in the organization, allowing them to easily monitor the health of all the accounts in the organization.

Using a CloudWatch alarm with an EventBridge rule provides an automated, direct way to reboot the EC2 instance without extra components like SES or Lambda. This is a straightforward approach with low operational overhead.

To allow the Lambda function to access both the new RDS database in a private subnet and the internet, the Lambda function needs to be reconfigured for VPC access with a NAT gateway setup.

Reconfigure Lambda for VPC Access:

Attach the Lambda function to the private subnets where the RDS instance is located.

Add NAT gateways to the public subnets to allow outbound internet access from the private subnets.

NAT Gateway:

NAT gateways allow instances in private subnets to connect to the internet or other AWS services, but they prevent the internet from initiating connections with those instances.

Steps to Implement:

Create NAT gateways in the public subnets.

Update the route tables of the private subnets to route internet-bound traffic through the NAT gateways.

Ensure the Lambda function has the necessary IAM role permissions to access the VPC and RDS.

Configuring a Lambda Function to Access Resources in a VPC

NAT Gateways

Using a Systems Manager Automation runbook is appropriate for managing security group rules within the AWS Config remediation framework. A runbook provides a reusable, automated solution that can update the security group rule based on an IP list.

Automation Runbook for Security Group Updates: A runbook can automate security group modifications, such as adding the trusted IP addresses specified by the business units.

AWS Config Integration: Config rules can be set to use this runbook for automatic remediation, ensuring that the rule is updated without deleting it, which aligns with the requirement for SSH access from specific IPs.

Lambda functions could work but would require additional customization and complexity, making the runbook a more manageable and scalable solution for this task.

Adding a Route to the Route Tables:

When new subnets are created, they need appropriate routing to ensure communication with on-premises networks.

Steps:

Go to the AWS Management Console.

Navigate to VPC.

Select the route table associated with the new subnets.

Choose "Edit routes."

Add a new route with the destination CIDR block of the on-premises network.

For the target, select the virtual private gateway (VGW).

This ensures that traffic destined for the on-premises network is routed correctly through the VPN connection.

AWS VPC Route Tables

To efficiently manage application deployments and updates on Amazon EC2 instances within an Auto Scaling group, along with ensuring security through vulnerability scans:

EC2 Image Builder: This AWS service automates the creation, management, and deployment of customized, secure, and up-to-date "golden" server images. By using EC2 Image Builder, you can automate the installation of software, patches, and security configurations.

Custom Recipes: Define a custom recipe in EC2 Image Builder that includes steps to install the application and its dependencies. Additionally, configure the recipe to perform vulnerability scans as part of the image creation process.

Automated Pipeline: Set up an Image Builder pipeline that triggers on a regular schedule (e.g., weekly) to incorporate the latest application updates and security patches into the AMI. The new AMIs can then be automatically used by the Auto Scaling group to launch updated and secure instances.

This solution not only streamlines the management of application deployments and updates but also ensures that all instances launched by the Auto Scaling group meet the latest security and compliance standards, minimizing operational overhead and enhancing security.

To implement a highly available database solution that is ideal for multi-tenant workloads, migrating the database to an Amazon Aurora DB cluster and adding an Aurora Replica is the most suitable solution.

Amazon Aurora:

A fully managed relational database engine that's compatible with MySQL and PostgreSQL.

Provides high availability and durability through multiple replicas and automated failover.

Aurora Replicas:

Aurora Replicas share the same storage as the primary instance, providing increased read throughput and high availability.

In the event of a primary instance failure, an Aurora Replica can be promoted to primary.

Implementation Steps:

Migrate the MySQL database to an Amazon Aurora DB cluster.

Add one or more Aurora Replicas to the cluster to distribute read traffic and enhance availability.

Amazon Aurora

High Availability for Amazon Aurora

The most efficient way to enable DNS resolution between the VPC and the on-premises environment is by configuring a Route 53 Resolver outbound endpoint.

Route 53 Resolver Outbound Endpoint: This enables the VPC to forward DNS queries to the on-premises DNS server, which can resolve internal hostnames.

Minimal Maintenance: This solution is scalable and requires minimal ongoing maintenance compared to manual entries or creating and managing a large number of DNS entries manually.