AWS Certified Developer – Associate (DVA-C02)Development with AWS ServicesMedium
A developer is building a web application using AWS Elastic Beanstalk. The application needs to store sensitive configuration parameters, such as database connection strings and API keys, securely. These parameters should not be hardcoded in the application and should be easily updated without redeploying the application. Which AWS service is best suited for managing these application parameters?
- AAmazon S3 bucket for configuration files.
- BAWS Systems Manager Parameter Store.
- CEnvironment variables in Elastic Beanstalk configuration.
- DAWS Secrets Manager.
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: B. AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store.
AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store provides secure, hierarchical storage for configuration data management and secrets management. It allows storing parameters as plain text or encrypted values, and applications can retrieve them at runtime, supporting easy updates without redeployment.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Storing configuration files in S3 is possible, but it lacks built-in encryption for sensitive values, versioning, and direct integration for parameter retrieval like Parameter Store.
- C. While Elastic Beanstalk environment variables can store parameters, they are not ideal for sensitive data (unless encrypted specifically) and managing many parameters hierarchically is less efficient.
- D. AWS Secrets Manager is excellent for rotating and managing secrets like database credentials, but Parameter Store is generally preferred for non-rotating, general application configuration parameters, even if sensitive, due to its lower cost and broader configuration management features.
AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store
A capability of AWS Systems Manager that provides secure, hierarchical storage for configuration data management and secrets management.
- Stores data as plain text or encrypted using KMS.
- Supports hierarchical naming and versioning.
- Integrates with other AWS services for parameter retrieval.
Memory trick: Parameter Store is the central vault for application settings.