SOA-C02 Practice Test 8 — 10 Questions

Question 1

The monitoring team needs to collect per-process CPU and memory utilization for a specific Java process (named 'app.jar') running on EC2 Linux instances. Standard EC2 metrics show aggregate CPU but not per-process details. Which CloudWatch agent configuration section enables this?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Add a procstat section under metrics_collected in the CloudWatch agent config, specifying process_name = 'app.jar' to collect per-process CPU and memory. The CloudWatch agent's `procstat` plugin is specifically designed to collect per-process metrics such as CPU and memory utilization. By adding a `procstat` section under `metrics_collected` in the agent configuration file and specifying the process name (e.g., `process_name = 'app.jar'`), the agent will gather the required per-process metrics and send them to CloudWatch. This is the only native method within the CloudWatch ecosystem to achieve per-process monitoring on EC2 Linux instances.

Answer

Enable enhanced monitoring on the EC2 instance and select 'per-process metrics' from the console

Answer

Configure a CloudWatch Logs metric filter on the Java GC log output to derive CPU and memory figures

Answer

Use the aws ec2 describe-instance-status API on a schedule to pull process metrics from the instance's system status checks

Question 2

A company runs a web application on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application stores session state in memory on each instance. The SysOps administrator wants to make the application highly available across multiple Availability Zones without losing session data when instances are terminated or replaced. The solution must minimize application changes. Which approach should the administrator take?

Accepted Answer

Store session data in a shared Amazon ElastiCache cluster and modify the application to read/write session state to ElastiCache.. Storing session state in a shared Amazon ElastiCache cluster decouples session data from individual EC2 instances, allowing any instance in the Auto Scaling group to serve any user request without losing session data when instances are terminated or replaced. This approach requires minimal application changes (only modifying the session handler to point to ElastiCache) and supports high availability across multiple Availability Zones by using a replicated ElastiCache cluster (e.g., Redis with replication).

Answer

Use sticky sessions (session affinity) on the ALB and configure the Auto Scaling group with a larger min size.

Answer

Deploy the application in multiple AWS Regions and use Amazon Route 53 with latency-based routing.

Answer

Store session data in an Amazon RDS for MySQL database and configure the application to read/write session state to the database.

Question 3

A company has an Amazon CloudFront distribution that delivers static content from an Amazon S3 bucket. The SysOps administrator needs to ensure that the content can only be accessed through CloudFront and not directly from the S3 bucket URL. The solution should use AWS managed services with minimal configuration. Which solution should the administrator implement?

Accepted Answer

Configure the S3 bucket policy to deny all access except from the CloudFront distribution's origin access identity (OAI).. Configuring the S3 bucket policy to deny all access except from the CloudFront distribution's origin access identity (OAI) ensures that only CloudFront can retrieve objects from the S3 bucket. The OAI is a special CloudFront user that authenticates requests to S3, and the bucket policy explicitly grants GetObject access only to that principal, blocking any direct S3 URL access. This uses AWS managed services (CloudFront and S3) with minimal configuration—no custom code or additional infrastructure.

Answer

Make the S3 bucket private and use pre-signed URLs for CloudFront.

Answer

Use AWS WAF on CloudFront to block direct access to S3 by checking the Referer header.

Answer

Create a VPC endpoint for S3 and restrict access to the bucket from the CloudFront IP addresses.

Question 4

Drag and drop the steps to restore an Amazon RDS DB instance from a snapshot into the correct order.

Accepted Answer

Select the snapshot, then configure instance details, then configure security and parameters, then initiate restore.. Restoration starts by selecting the snapshot, then configuring instance details, security, and parameters, then initiating the restore.

Answer

Select the snapshot, then configure security and parameters, then configure instance details, then initiate restore.

Answer

Configure instance details, then select the snapshot, then configure security and parameters, then initiate restore.

Answer

Select the snapshot, then initiate restore, then configure instance details, then configure security and parameters.

Question 5

A company runs a stateful web application on a single Amazon EC2 instance. The SysOps administrator needs to implement a high availability architecture that can tolerate an Availability Zone (AZ) failure. The application stores session state in memory and also writes critical data to an Amazon EBS volume. The administrator wants to use an Auto Scaling group and an Application Load Balancer (ALB). Which combination of steps is required to make the application highly available?

Accepted Answer

Migrate session state to Amazon ElastiCache for Redis, store critical data in Amazon EFS, create an Auto Scaling group across multiple AZs, and place it behind an ALB.. It addresses both the stateless requirement for horizontal scaling and the persistence of critical data across AZ failures. Migrating session state to ElastiCache for Redis removes the dependency on local instance memory, allowing any instance to handle any request. Storing critical data on Amazon EFS provides a shared, NFS-based file system that is accessible from all instances across multiple AZs, unlike EBS which is tied to a single AZ. Combining these with a multi-AZ Auto Scaling group and an ALB ensures the application can survive an entire AZ outage.

Answer

Create an Auto Scaling group that spans at least two Availability Zones, attach the existing EBS volume to the new instances, and use an ALB to distribute traffic.

Answer

Place the EC2 instance in an Auto Scaling group with a minimum and maximum of 1 in the same AZ, and attach an Elastic IP to the instance.

Answer

Use an ALB with the existing single instance as the target, and enable cross-zone load balancing.

Question 6

Drag and drop the steps to troubleshoot high CPU usage on an Amazon EC2 instance into the correct order.

Accepted Answer

Check CloudWatch metrics, then Connect to instance, then Identify high CPU process, then Analyze process behavior, then Take corrective action. The correct order for troubleshooting high CPU usage on an EC2 instance starts with checking CloudWatch metrics to confirm the issue and gain initial insights. Next, connect to the instance using SSH or Systems Manager to access the operating system. Then, identify the process causing high CPU using tools like top or ps. After identification, analyze the process to understand its behavior, such as checking logs or memory usage. Finally, take corrective action, which may include stopping, killing, or optimizing the process, or scaling the instance up. This sequence ensures efficient and accurate troubleshooting.

Answer

Connect to instance, then Check CloudWatch metrics, then Identify high CPU process, then Analyze process behavior, then Take corrective action

Answer

Check CloudWatch metrics, then Identify high CPU process, then Connect to instance, then Analyze process behavior, then Take corrective action

Answer

Check CloudWatch metrics, then Connect to instance, then Analyze process behavior, then Identify high CPU process, then Take corrective action

Question 7

An EC2 instance runs a Java application. The operations team wants to monitor heap memory utilization in CloudWatch and set alarms when it exceeds 85 percent. EC2 does not natively publish memory metrics to CloudWatch. What is the simplest way to get this metric into CloudWatch?

Accepted Answer

Install the CloudWatch agent on the instance and configure it to collect mem_used_percent; publish JVM heap metrics from the application using PutMetricData. The CloudWatch agent can collect custom metrics like memory utilization from the EC2 instance, and the Java application can directly publish JVM heap metrics to CloudWatch using the PutMetricData API. This combination provides the simplest and most direct way to monitor heap memory utilization and set alarms at the 85% threshold, as EC2 does not natively expose memory metrics.

Answer

Enable detailed monitoring on the EC2 instance to increase metric resolution to 1-minute intervals

Answer

Configure a CloudWatch Logs metric filter on the application log stream to count lines containing 'OutOfMemoryError'

Answer

Use AWS Systems Manager Inventory to collect memory data and sync it to CloudWatch

Question 8

A company has an on-premises data center connected to an AWS VPC via an AWS Direct Connect connection. The company's SysOps administrator wants to ensure that traffic from the VPC destined for the on-premises network uses the Direct Connect connection instead of the internet. Which configuration should be used?

Accepted Answer

Add a route in the VPC route table pointing to the on-premises network via a virtual private gateway (VGW). A virtual private gateway (VGW) is the AWS-side endpoint for an AWS Direct Connect connection when using a private virtual interface. By adding a route in the VPC route table that points the on-premises network CIDR to the VGW, all traffic destined for the on-premises network is forced over the Direct Connect link, bypassing the internet. This ensures private, low-latency, and consistent connectivity as required.

Answer

Add a route in the VPC route table pointing to the on-premises network via a NAT gateway

Answer

Add a route in the VPC route table pointing to the on-premises network via an internet gateway

Answer

Add a route in the VPC route table pointing to the on-premises network via a VPC peering connection

Question 9

A company wants to implement a disaster recovery solution for its on-premises database using AWS. The solution must have an RPO of less than 1 hour and an RTO of less than 4 hours. Which THREE steps should the SysOps administrator take? (Choose THREE.)

Accepted Answer

Set up a cross-Region read replica for the RDS instance.. A cross-Region read replica for an RDS instance provides asynchronous replication to a secondary Region. After promoting the replica, the RTO can be under 4 hours, and the RPO is typically less than 1 hour. Option B is correct by launching an EC2 instance with the same database software and configuring continuous replication (e.g., log shipping or mirroring) from the on-premises database. This allows failover to the EC2 instance within the RPO and RTO targets. Option C is correct as AWS DMS can perform ongoing replication from the on-premises database to an RDS instance, meeting the RPO requirement with minimal data loss. Together, these steps form a multi-layered DR strategy: DMS for continuous replication, EC2 as a standby, and a cross-Region replica for regional resilience.

Answer

Use AWS DataSync to sync the database files to Amazon S3.

Answer

Configure the RDS instance with Multi-AZ.

Question 10

A company uses AWS CodeDeploy to deploy a web application to a fleet of Amazon EC2 instances. The SysOps administrator needs to implement a deployment strategy that ensures zero downtime by creating a new set of instances alongside the current ones, then gradually shifting traffic to the new instances after they pass health checks. If a problem is detected, traffic can be instantly redirected back to the original instances. Which deployment configuration should the administrator use?

Accepted Answer

Blue/green deployment. Blue/green deployment is the correct choice because it creates a completely new set of instances (green environment) alongside the existing ones (blue environment), shifts traffic gradually to the new instances after health checks pass, and allows instant rollback by redirecting traffic back to the original instances. AWS CodeDeploy supports this strategy natively with a blue/green deployment configuration, ensuring zero downtime during the transition.

Answer

Rolling update

Answer

All at once deployment

Answer

Canary deployment