AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)Cloud Technology and ServicesHard

An e-commerce company wants to release a new version of its application with zero downtime by running the new version alongside the old version in a separate, identical environment, then shifting all production traffic to the new environment at once, with the ability to instantly roll back if issues occur. Which deployment strategy does this describe?

  1. ARolling deployment
  2. BIn-place deployment
  3. CBlue/green deployment
  4. DCanary deployment
Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: C. Blue/green deployment

Blue/green deployment involves running two identical environments (blue = current, green = new), and switching all traffic from blue to green at once, enabling zero-downtime releases and instant rollback by redirecting traffic back to blue if needed.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A. Rolling deployment gradually updates instances in the existing environment rather than maintaining two separate full environments.
  • B. In-place deployment updates the existing environment directly, causing downtime and no easy rollback.
  • D. Canary deployment gradually shifts a small percentage of traffic to the new version before full rollout, not an all-at-once switch.

Blue/Green Deployment

A deployment strategy that runs two identical production environments (blue and green) and shifts all traffic to the new environment at once, enabling zero-downtime releases and quick rollback.

  • Two full, identical environments running simultaneously
  • All traffic switches at once (not gradual like canary)
  • Rollback is instant by redirecting traffic back to the old environment

Memory trick: Blue/Green: flip the switch between two full houses.

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