AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional (DOP-C02) Practice Exam
Cover all six DOP-C02 domains — SDLC Automation, Configuration Management and IaC, Resilient Cloud Solutions, Monitoring and Logging, Incident and Event Response, and Security and Compliance — with objective-mapped, scenario-based practice questions, immediate feedback in Learn mode, and full timed simulation in Exam mode.
Start 24-hour free trial →DOP-C02 exam at a glance
- Vendor
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Exam code
- DOP-C02
- Certification
- AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
- Level
- Professional
- Blueprint
- DOP-C02 exam guide v1.6; in use since March 2023 (current edition; replaced DOP-C01)
- Format
- 75 questions (65 scored + 10 unscored); multiple-choice and multiple-response
- Duration
- 180 minutes (3 hours)
- Passing score
- 750 on a scaled range of 100–1000 (pass/fail, compensatory scoring)
- Delivery
- Pearson VUE test center or online proctored
- Prerequisites
- None required. AWS recommends the Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) or Developer – Associate (DVA-C02) first, plus about 2 or more years provisioning, operating, and managing AWS environments
- Cost (USD)
- $300 USD (50% discount voucher available after any prior AWS certification)
- Validity
- 3 years; recertify by passing the current version of the exam
- Languages
- English, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese (verify current list with AWS)
Source: AWS — DOP-C02 Exam Guide (domains & weightings). Verify current details with AWS before scheduling.
About the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional certification
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional (DOP-C02) is AWS’s professional-level credential for engineers who provision, operate, and manage distributed systems on AWS. It is not a services-trivia exam — it validates whether you can build and run production systems: CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, automated deployment strategies, observability, incident response, and security automation. Questions are long and scenario-driven, and the “best” answer usually turns on automation, repeatability, and least operational overhead rather than a single service name.
The exam has no formal prerequisites, but it is emphatically not an entry point: AWS recommends passing the Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) or Developer – Associate (DVA-C02) first, plus around two years operating AWS environments. Its heaviest area is SDLC Automation (22%), centered on CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, and deployment strategies (blue/green, canary, rolling). For the CI/CD and infrastructure-as-code foundations, see the DevOps guide in our Learning Hub.
Every PowerKram practice question maps to one of the six current DOP-C02 domains and links to the specific AWS documentation page it was derived from, so your weak spots become a focused reading list rather than a guess.
DOP-C02 exam domains and weights
Six domains, with SDLC Automation the single heaviest area. The weightings are AWS’s own; because scoring is compensatory, you pass on the overall scaled score rather than needing a minimum in each domain. Plan your study time roughly in proportion to these weights.
Implementing CI/CD pipelines (CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy); integrating automated testing; building and managing artifacts; and applying deployment strategies such as blue/green, canary, and rolling deployments.
Defining and deploying infrastructure as code (AWS CloudFormation, AWS CDK); managing configuration and secrets (Systems Manager, Parameter Store); and reusing and governing infrastructure across accounts and regions.
Designing for high availability, scalability, and automated recovery; implementing self-healing and auto-scaling; and building fault-tolerant, multi-AZ and multi-region deployment patterns.
Configuring metrics, logs, and traces (Amazon CloudWatch, CloudWatch Logs, X-Ray); building dashboards and alarms; and aggregating and analyzing operational and audit data across accounts.
Automating event-driven responses (Amazon EventBridge, Lambda); managing and remediating incidents; and building automated troubleshooting and self-healing workflows.
Automating security controls, access management, and governance; enforcing compliance with AWS Config and audit tooling; and managing secrets and sensitive data across pipelines and environments.
Source: AWS DOP-C02 Exam Guide — content domains and weightings. Configuration Management and IaC and Security and Compliance each carry 17%; weightings indicate relative exam emphasis.
Who DOP-C02 is for
AWS positions DevOps Engineer – Professional for experienced engineers who own build-and-run responsibilities on AWS. The audience is senior and operations-focused:
- DevOps engineers and platform engineers who build and operate CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure as code and want to validate professional-level automation skills.
- Site reliability engineers (SREs) responsible for monitoring, incident response, and resilient production systems.
- Cloud and systems engineers automating deployment, configuration, and security across multi-account AWS environments.
- Developers and architects moving into delivery and operations ownership end to end.
There are no formal prerequisites, but this is not a first certification. AWS recommends passing the Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C03) or Developer – Associate (DVA-C02) first, plus about two years operating AWS environments. The operations-focused CloudOps Engineer – Associate (SOA-C03) also pairs well. For the roles this credential supports — with skills, tools, and salary ranges — see the DevOps Engineer career path and where AWS automation skills lead.
What this DOP-C02 practice exam delivers
Learn mode
Get the correct answer, the explanation, and a direct link to the exact AWS documentation page each question was derived from — immediately after each question. Best for the SDLC-automation and IaC areas, where the “most automated, least operational overhead” answer is the point.
Exam mode
75 questions, 180-minute timer — the real DOP-C02 format. Build the pacing and stamina a three-hour professional exam demands, with the long multi-service scenarios you will actually face.
Source-linked explanations
Every answer cites the exact AWS page (docs.aws.amazon.com) or DevOps whitepaper the question was built from — so you can verify pipeline and automation behavior and dig deeper, not just memorize.
Score by DOP-C02 domain
Results break down by the six blueprint domains — SDLC Automation, Config Management and IaC, Resilient Solutions, Monitoring and Logging, Incident Response, and Security and Compliance — so practice tells you exactly which area to revisit.
Sample DOP-C02 practice questions
Ten free questions across the six current DOP-C02 domains, with full explanations and source links to the AWS pages each is derived from. The complete bank is available with the 24-hour trial.
A team wants a fully managed service to orchestrate the stages of a release pipeline — source, build, test, and deploy — wiring together CodeBuild and CodeDeploy with automatic transitions. Which AWS service provides this orchestration?
- Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling
- Amazon Athena
- AWS CodePipeline
- AWS Config
Show answer & explanation
Correct: C — AWS CodePipeline. CodePipeline is the managed continuous-delivery service that models and automates the stages of a release pipeline, integrating source, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, and approvals with automatic stage transitions — the orchestration described.
Why not the others: EC2 Auto Scaling (A) scales compute capacity, not pipelines; Athena (B) queries data in S3; Config (D) tracks resource configuration. None orchestrates a CI/CD pipeline.
Source: AWS — What is AWS CodePipeline? → Further reading: PowerKram — CI/CD pipelines →A team wants to shift production traffic to a new application version by standing up a full parallel environment and switching over all at once, with instant rollback by switching back. Which deployment strategy is this?
- In-place deployment with no rollback
- Manual copy of files to servers
- A one-way canary with no fallback
- Blue/green deployment
Show answer & explanation
Correct: D — blue/green deployment. Blue/green stands up a full parallel (green) environment alongside the current (blue) one and shifts traffic over, enabling near-instant rollback by routing back to blue — exactly the pattern described. CodeDeploy supports blue/green natively.
Why not the others: in-place with no rollback (A) updates the running fleet directly and is risky; a manual file copy (B) is not an automated strategy; a one-way canary with no fallback (C) lacks the instant rollback described.
Source: AWS — What is AWS CodeDeploy? →A pipeline needs a fully managed build service to compile source, run unit tests, and produce deployable artifacts, scaling automatically without managing build servers. Which AWS service fits?
- Amazon QuickSight
- AWS Ground Station
- AWS CodeBuild
- Amazon Kinesis Data Streams
Show answer & explanation
Correct: C — AWS CodeBuild. CodeBuild is a fully managed build service that compiles source, runs tests, and produces artifacts, scaling automatically with no build servers to provision — the described continuous-integration build step.
Why not the others: QuickSight (A) is business intelligence; Ground Station (B) is satellite communications; Kinesis Data Streams (D) ingests streaming data. None is a managed build service.
Source: AWS — What is AWS CodeBuild? → Further reading: PowerKram — build and artifact management →A team wants to define its entire AWS infrastructure declaratively in version-controlled templates, then create and update it repeatably across accounts and regions. Which AWS service is purpose-built for this?
- Editing resources manually in the console
- A spreadsheet of resource IDs
- Copying resources by hand between accounts
- AWS CloudFormation
Show answer & explanation
Correct: D — AWS CloudFormation. CloudFormation defines infrastructure as declarative, version-controlled templates and provisions or updates it repeatably as stacks across accounts and regions — the infrastructure-as-code capability described.
Why not the others: manual console edits (A), a spreadsheet (B), and hand-copying (C) are all manual and not repeatable infrastructure as code.
Source: AWS — What is AWS CloudFormation? → Further reading: PowerKram — infrastructure as code →A team needs a managed way to store configuration data and secrets (such as database strings and license keys) with hierarchical organization and secure access for pipelines and instances. Which AWS capability fits?
- Hardcoding secrets in the application source
- AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store
- A public S3 bucket of config files
- Environment variables committed to Git
Show answer & explanation
Correct: B — Systems Manager Parameter Store. Parameter Store provides secure, hierarchical storage for configuration data and secrets, with encryption and fine-grained access, consumable by pipelines and instances — the described need.
Why not the others: hardcoding secrets (A), a public S3 bucket (C), and committing secrets to Git (D) are all insecure anti-patterns that expose sensitive data.
Source: AWS — What is AWS Systems Manager? →A web tier must automatically add and remove EC2 instances in response to demand and replace unhealthy instances to maintain a desired capacity. Which AWS service provides this?
- Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling
- AWS CloudTrail
- Amazon SES
- AWS Budgets
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling. EC2 Auto Scaling maintains a desired capacity by launching and terminating instances on demand and automatically replacing instances that fail health checks — the self-healing, elastic-capacity behavior described.
Why not the others: CloudTrail (B) logs API activity; SES (C) sends email; Budgets (D) tracks spending. None manages elastic compute capacity or instance health.
Source: AWS — What is Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling? →A team needs to collect metrics, aggregate application and system logs, and trigger alarms when thresholds are breached across their AWS workloads. Which AWS service is the core of this observability?
- Amazon Rekognition
- Amazon CloudWatch
- AWS WAF
- Amazon Comprehend
Show answer & explanation
Correct: B — Amazon CloudWatch. CloudWatch collects metrics, aggregates logs (CloudWatch Logs), builds dashboards, and triggers alarms on thresholds — the central monitoring-and-logging service for AWS workloads described here.
Why not the others: Rekognition (A) analyzes images/video; WAF (C) filters web traffic; Comprehend (D) is NLP. None is the core metrics/logs/alarms service.
Source: AWS — What is Amazon CloudWatch? → Further reading: PowerKram — monitoring and observability →A team wants to automatically trigger a Lambda remediation function whenever a specific AWS service event or state change occurs, using a serverless event bus with routing rules. Which service fits?
- Amazon EventBridge
- Amazon Redshift
- AWS Direct Connect
- Amazon Lightsail
Show answer & explanation
Correct: A — Amazon EventBridge. EventBridge is a serverless event bus that routes events from AWS services and applications to targets like Lambda based on rules — ideal for automated, event-driven incident remediation, exactly as described.
Why not the others: Redshift (B) is a data warehouse; Direct Connect (C) is hybrid networking; Lightsail (D) is simplified VPS hosting. None is an event-routing bus.
Source: AWS — What is Amazon EventBridge? →A DevOps team must continuously evaluate whether AWS resources comply with organizational rules and automatically flag or remediate drift from those rules. Which AWS service is designed for this?
- Amazon Polly
- AWS Config with rules
- Amazon SNS alone
- AWS Cost Explorer
Show answer & explanation
Correct: B — AWS Config with rules. AWS Config records resource configurations and continuously evaluates them against Config rules, flagging noncompliant resources and supporting automated remediation — the compliance and drift-detection need described.
Why not the others: Polly (A) is text-to-speech; SNS (C) sends notifications but does not evaluate compliance; Cost Explorer (D) analyzes spend. None continuously evaluates resource compliance.
Source: AWS — What is AWS Config? → Further reading: PowerKram — compliance automation →An auditor needs a record of every API call made in an AWS account — who did what, when, and from where — for governance and post-incident investigation. Which AWS service provides this audit trail?
- Amazon CloudFront
- Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling
- AWS CloudTrail
- Amazon Route 53
Show answer & explanation
Correct: C — AWS CloudTrail. CloudTrail records account activity and API calls — the identity, action, timestamp, and source — producing the audit trail used for governance, compliance, and post-incident investigation described.
Why not the others: CloudFront (A) is a CDN; EC2 Auto Scaling (B) manages capacity; Route 53 (D) is DNS. None records an account-wide API audit trail.
Source: AWS — What is AWS CloudTrail? →Keep going: Learning & Career resources
DOP-C02 sits at the top of the AWS operations track. Both PowerKram hubs back this exam — deeper study material and the roles it unlocks.
Deep dive: DOP-C02 format, scoring, study path, and how it differs from the associate exams
Exam format and scoring
DOP-C02 delivers 75 questions in 180 minutes. Only 65 are scored; the other 10 are unscored pretest items AWS uses to trial future questions, and they are not identified during the exam. Question formats are multiple choice (one correct answer) and multiple response (two or more correct answers). Scoring is scaled from 100 to 1000 with a passing mark of 750 — higher than the associate exams’ 720 — and it is compensatory, so you pass on the overall score. At roughly 2.4 minutes per question with long scenarios, pacing matters. Read the DevOps delivery foundations →
How DOP-C02 differs from the associate exams
The associate exams (SAA-C03, DVA-C02, SOA-C03) largely ask which service fits a scenario. DOP-C02 assumes you know the services and instead tests whether you can automate and operate them: designing CI/CD pipelines, writing infrastructure as code, building self-healing systems, and automating incident response and compliance. Expect terminal-and-automation thinking over console clickops, and answers that favor repeatability and least operational overhead. It is a step change in difficulty from associate level. Compare with the CloudOps Associate →
Realistic study path
Most candidates need four to eight weeks with associate-level experience. The highest-return preparation is hands-on: build a real CI/CD pipeline with CodePipeline, CodeBuild, and CodeDeploy; define infrastructure as code with CloudFormation or the CDK; add CloudWatch monitoring and alarms; and wire an EventBridge-plus-Lambda auto-remediation. Read the AWS whitepaper on practicing CI/CD on AWS for the reasoning patterns the exam rewards. Spend the most time on SDLC Automation (22%). Read the CI/CD and IaC guide →
Cost, scheduling, and retake policy
The exam costs $300 USD (regional pricing varies) and is delivered at a Pearson VUE test center or online with a proctor. If you do not pass, AWS requires a 14-day wait before you retake, with no annual cap on attempts, and each attempt needs a new registration and fee. If you already hold any AWS certification, a 50% discount voucher is available in your AWS Certification account. AWS’s official DOP-C02 exam guide →
Recertification
AWS certifications are valid for three years. You recertify by passing the current version of this exam before it expires. Earning DOP-C02 also extends any lower-level AWS certifications you hold at the time — so it doubles as automatic recertification for your associate credentials. See the Developer Associate stepping stone →
Career outlook for DOP-C02
DevOps Engineer – Professional is a strong signal for senior delivery-and-operations roles: DevOps engineer, platform engineer, and SRE positions that own build, deploy, and run responsibilities on AWS. It pairs naturally with the associate architect and developer credentials and points toward platform-leadership tracks. Career Hub — DevOps Engineer →
AWS DevOps Engineer Professional (DOP-C02) exam FAQ
What are the DOP-C02 exam domains and weights?
What is the DOP-C02 passing score?
How many questions is DOP-C02 and how long is it?
Does DOP-C02 have prerequisites?
How much does DOP-C02 cost, and does it renew other certifications?
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