AWS · SOA-C02
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate (SOA-C02) Practice Tests
Validates technical expertise in deployment, management, and operations on AWS. This exam covers monitoring, logging, remediation, reliability, business continuity, security, and cost optimization.
Exam Details
Practice Questions
2,141
≈ 32 practice exams
Duration
130 minutes
Passing Score
720/1000
Difficulty
AssociateLast Updated
Oct 2026
Topics Covered
Monitoring, Logging, and RemediationReliability and Business ContinuityDeployment, Provisioning, and AutomationSecurity and ComplianceNetworking and Content DeliveryCost and Performance Optimization
AWS SysOps Administrator SOA-C02 Legacy Practice Exam
The last day to take SOA-C02 was September 29, 2025, and AWS launched its successor, AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate (SOA-C03), the next day. Existing SysOps Administrator certifications stay valid until their three-year expiry, and holders do not have to take the new exam.
SOA-C02 had 65 questions (50 scored and 15 unscored) in 130 minutes and needed 720 out of 1,000. Its six domains were Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation (20%), Reliability and Business Continuity (16%), Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation (18%), Security and Compliance (16%), Networking and Content Delivery (18%), and Cost and Performance Optimization (12%). SOA-C03 has five domains weighted 22, 22, 22, 16, and 18, uses the same format, costs $150, and its exam guide was revised on June 1, 2026 without changing the weights.
These 2,141 questions still help with the shared core: CloudWatch, Systems Manager, CloudFormation, Auto Scaling and load balancing, backup and recovery, VPC networking, and IAM. SOA-C03 adds containers, CDK, and more multi-account and multi-Region scenarios, so move to the CloudOps Engineer page if you are booking today.
Exam Domain Breakdown
Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation20%
Reliability and Business Continuity16%
Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation18%
Security and Compliance16%
Networking and Content Delivery18%
Cost and Performance Optimization12%
Exam Overview
AWS retired SOA-C02 on September 29, 2025 and launched its successor, AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate (SOA-C03), the next day. Existing SysOps Administrator certifications stay valid until their three-year expiry, and holders do not have to take the new exam.
SOA-C02 had six domains: Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation (20%), Reliability and Business Continuity (16%), Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation (18%), Security and Compliance (16%), Networking and Content Delivery (18%), and Cost and Performance Optimization (12%).
Who Should Take This Exam
This certification is intended for systems administrators, cloud operations engineers, and DevOps practitioners who work day-to-day with AWS infrastructure. Candidates should have approximately one year of hands-on experience in deployment, management, networking, and security on AWS. Typical job roles include Cloud SysOps Administrator, Cloud Operations Engineer, Infrastructure Engineer, and Site Reliability Engineer (SRE).
Professionals without prior IT operations experience are encouraged to first earn the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner before attempting this exam. Those with Linux/Windows sysadmin backgrounds transitioning to cloud operations will find the exam closely mirrors on-premises operational responsibilities mapped to AWS services.
Prerequisites
AWS does not enforce formal prerequisites for this exam, but recommends candidates have at least one year of practical, hands-on experience managing AWS environments. Candidates should be familiar with core AWS services — including EC2, EBS, S3, RDS, VPC, IAM, CloudWatch, CloudFormation, and Route 53 — and understand how to configure, monitor, and troubleshoot them in production contexts.
Recommended foundational knowledge includes understanding of AWS networking concepts (subnets, security groups, NACLs, VPN, Direct Connect), identity and access management, infrastructure-as-code principles, and high availability design patterns such as load balancing and Auto Scaling. Candidates who have studied for or passed the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam often find significant topic overlap with this exam.
Exam Format
SOA-C02 had 65 questions (50 scored and 15 unscored) in 130 minutes and required 720 out of 1,000. SOA-C03 uses the same format with five domains weighted 22, 22, 22, 16, and 18, and costs $150. The SOA-C03 guide was revised on June 1, 2026 without changing the weights.
Skills Measured
- 1.Domain 1 – Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation (20%): Implementing metrics, alarms, and filters using CloudWatch, CloudTrail, AWS Config, and related services. Remediating operational issues based on monitoring data, log analysis, and availability metrics. Automating remediation responses using EventBridge and Systems Manager Automation.
- 2.Domain 2 – Reliability and Business Continuity (16%): Implementing scalability and elasticity using Auto Scaling groups and Elastic Load Balancing. Designing and implementing high-availability, fault-tolerant, and multi-AZ architectures. Developing backup and restore strategies using AWS Backup, snapshots, and cross-region replication.
- 3.Domain 3 – Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation (18%): Automating deployments using AWS CloudFormation, Elastic Beanstalk, and Systems Manager. Managing AMIs and EC2 instance lifecycle. Implementing CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code practices for repeatable, consistent provisioning.
- 4.Domain 4 – Security and Compliance (16%): Implementing and managing IAM policies, roles, and permission boundaries. Configuring data-at-rest and in-transit encryption using KMS and ACM. Auditing environments for compliance using AWS Config rules, Security Hub, and GuardDuty.
- 5.Domain 5 – Networking and Content Delivery (18%): Configuring and troubleshooting VPCs, subnets, route tables, security groups, NACLs, VPN connections, and Direct Connect. Managing DNS with Route 53 and implementing content delivery with CloudFront. Diagnosing network connectivity issues between AWS services and on-premises environments.
- 6.Domain 6 – Cost and Performance Optimization (12%): Implementing cost optimization strategies using Cost Explorer, Budgets, and rightsizing recommendations. Selecting and configuring compute resources (EC2 instance types, Spot Instances, Reserved Instances) based on performance metrics. Identifying and resolving performance bottlenecks across storage, compute, and database tiers.
Study Tips
- Start with the official AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate Exam Guide PDF (available on aws.amazon.com/certification) to map every domain and sub-topic before beginning your study plan.
- Use AWS Skill Builder's official SOA-C02 learning plan, which includes domain-specific courses, hands-on labs, and an official practice exam (20 questions) that mirrors the real exam's difficulty and style.
- Get substantial hands-on practice in a real AWS account. Focus specifically on CloudWatch alarms and dashboards, CloudFormation stack deployments, Systems Manager Patch Manager, and VPC troubleshooting — these are heavily tested operational tasks.
- Practice with full-length mock exams from reputable providers (e.g., Tutorials Dojo, Whizlabs) in timed mode to build exam pacing. Review every incorrect answer using the provided explanations and follow the linked AWS documentation.
- Study AWS-specific operational tooling in depth: AWS Systems Manager (Run Command, Session Manager, Patch Manager, Parameter Store), AWS Config (rules and remediation), and EventBridge-triggered automations are high-frequency exam topics not covered in the Solutions Architect exam.
- Review AWS Well-Architected Framework pillars — particularly Operational Excellence and Reliability — as many scenario-based questions test whether a candidate can select the most operationally sound architecture from several plausible options.
- Use the official AWS sample questions PDF (linked from the certification page) to calibrate difficulty, and take note of how AWS phrases 'most operationally efficient' or 'least operational overhead' questions, as these phrasings signal specific answer patterns.
Career Benefits
Existing SysOps Administrator holders keep the credential until it expires. For a new certification, the CloudOps Engineer exam adds containers, CDK, and more multi-account and multi-Region operations.
Sample Questions
5 sample questions with answers and explanations. The full bank has 2,141 questions, enough for 32 full-length practice exams.
Preview — answers shown1. Cross-zone load balancing is enabled by default on which load balancers?
ANLB only
BCLB only
CALB only
DNLB and ALB
Explanation
NLB and ALB have cross-zone load balancing enabled by default for even distribution. CLB has it off by default. Not specific to ALB only or NLB only.
2. City Power & Light has regions with default VPCs. How many VPCs can they create per region by default?
A1
BUnlimited
C10
D5
Explanation
Default limit is 5 VPCs per region. 1 is the default VPC. 10 requires a limit increase. Unlimited isn't true.
3. Fabrikam Inc. is using CIDR notation and needs a /24 subnet. How many IP addresses does this allocate?
A128
B512
C1024
D256
Explanation
/24 means 24 bits for network, leaving 8 bits (256 addresses). /25 would be 128, /23 is 512, and /22 is 1024, but none match except /24 for 256.
4. Alpine Ski House has a VPC and creates subnets. What is the maximum number of subnets per VPC by default?
A500
B200
C50
D100
Explanation
Default is 200 subnets per VPC. 50 and 100 are too low. 500 requires increase.
5. Fabrikam uses S3 for unlimited storage. Which component holds the data and metadata in S3?
ARegions
BBuckets
CObjects
DStorage classes
Explanation
Objects contain the data (value), key (name), metadata, and optionally version ID. Buckets hold objects. Storage classes determine pricing and performance. Regions are geographical locations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still take SOA-C02?
No. The last day to take SOA-C02 was September 29, 2025.
What replaced SOA-C02?
AWS Certified CloudOps Engineer - Associate (SOA-C03), which launched on September 30, 2025.
Is my SysOps Administrator certification still valid?
Yes. It remains valid until its three-year expiry, and you do not have to take SOA-C03.
What changed between SOA-C02 and SOA-C03?
SOA-C03 has five domains instead of six, brings containers into scope, adds more automation and multi-account scenarios, and removed no task statements.
What were the SOA-C02 domain weights?
Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation 20%, Reliability and Business Continuity 16%, Deployment, Provisioning, and Automation 18%, Security and Compliance 16%, Networking and Content Delivery 18%, and Cost and Performance Optimization 12%.
Is SOA-C02 practice material still useful for SOA-C03?
Mostly yes for the shared core such as CloudWatch, Systems Manager, CloudFormation, networking, and IAM, but it misses containers, CDK, and newer services.
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