CLF-C02 Billing, Pricing, and Support Practice Question
A company runs a mix of production and non-production Amazon EC2 instances. The finance team uses AWS Budgets to monitor monthly spending. For the development accounts, the team wants to automatically stop all running EC2 instances when the account's monthly spending reaches 90% of the budgeted amount. The team wants a solution that does not require custom scripting or additional infrastructure. Which AWS Budgets feature should the team configure to meet this requirement?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often choose Option D (Lambda + SNS) because it is a common pattern for automation, but the question explicitly requires 'no custom scripting or additional infrastructure,' making the built-in budget action with Systems Manager the correct choice.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Configure a budget action that runs an AWS Systems Manager automation document to stop the EC2 instances.
AWS Budgets supports budget actions that can automatically trigger AWS Systems Manager automation documents to stop EC2 instances when a budget threshold is exceeded. This meets the requirement of no custom scripting or additional infrastructure, as the automation document is a built-in capability of Systems Manager.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create a budget alert that sends an email notification to the operations team when spending reaches 90% of the budget.
Why it's wrong here
A budget alert configured to send an email notification at 90% spending only alerts human operators; it does not perform any automatic action. The operations team would need to manually log in to the AWS console or CLI to identify and stop instances, which contradicts the requirement for an automated response and introduces significant delay and risk of missed action.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the question asked for a solution to notify the operations team when spending reaches 90% of the budget, without requiring automatic action. For example: 'A company wants to alert the operations team when monthly spending reaches 90% of the budget, but the team will manually decide which instances to stop.'
- ✗
Configure a budget action that applies an IAM policy to deny the ec2:StopInstances permission for all users.
Why it's wrong here
Applying an IAM policy that denies the stop permission would prevent anyone from stopping instances, which is the opposite of the desired outcome. Additionally, this action does not actually stop running instances; it only changes permissions.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the requirement were to prevent users from stopping EC2 instances in development accounts to enforce cost control or security policies, and the team wanted to use a budget action to apply an IAM policy.
- ✓
Configure a budget action that runs an AWS Systems Manager automation document to stop the EC2 instances.
Why this is correct
AWS Budgets actions can invoke a Systems Manager Automation document such as the pre-defined AWS-StopEC2Instance, which natively stops the specified EC2 instances when the budget threshold is exceeded. This integrates directly with the budget's IAM service role, requiring no custom Lambda functions or manual intervention, and provides a fully managed, serverless automation path for cost governance.
- ✗
Create a budget alert that publishes a message to an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic, and subscribe an AWS Lambda function to stop the instances.
Why it's wrong here
This option fails because creating an AWS Lambda function to stop instances constitutes custom scripting and additional infrastructure, directly contravening the requirement for a solution without these elements. While a common pattern for custom automation, this approach is suitable when bespoke logic is needed and the "no custom scripting" constraint is absent, allowing for highly tailored responses to budget alerts.
When this WOULD be correct
If the question allowed custom scripting and additional infrastructure, and the requirement was to perform a custom action (e.g., stopping only specific instances or sending a custom notification) when a budget threshold is reached, then using a budget alert to trigger an SNS topic that invokes a Lambda function would be appropriate.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The CLF-C02 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓Configure a budget action that runs an AWS Systems Manager automation document to stop the EC2 instances.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
AWS Budgets actions can invoke a Systems Manager Automation document such as the pre-defined AWS-StopEC2Instance, which natively stops the specified EC2 instances when the budget threshold is exceeded. This integrates directly with the budget's IAM service role, requiring no custom Lambda functions or manual intervention, and provides a fully managed, serverless automation path for cost governance.
✗Create a budget alert that sends an email notification to the operations team when spending reaches 90% of the budget.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The requirement is to automatically stop EC2 instances when spending reaches 90% of the budget, not just send a notification. Option A only sends an email alert, which requires manual intervention to stop instances, and does not meet the automation requirement.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the question asked for a solution to notify the operations team when spending reaches 90% of the budget, without requiring automatic action. For example: 'A company wants to alert the operations team when monthly spending reaches 90% of the budget, but the team will manually decide which instances to stop.'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that sending an email notification is sufficient to trigger manual action, or they may overlook the explicit requirement for automatic stopping without custom scripting.
✗Configure a budget action that applies an IAM policy to deny the ec2:StopInstances permission for all users.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Denying the ec2:StopInstances permission prevents users from stopping instances manually, but does not automatically stop instances when spending reaches 90% of the budget. The requirement is to automatically stop instances, not to restrict user actions.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the requirement were to prevent users from stopping EC2 instances in development accounts to enforce cost control or security policies, and the team wanted to use a budget action to apply an IAM policy.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that denying stop permissions will prevent instances from running and thus reduce costs, but they overlook that the requirement is to automatically stop instances, not to block user-initiated stops.
✗Create a budget alert that publishes a message to an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic, and subscribe an AWS Lambda function to stop the instances.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The question explicitly requires a solution that does not require custom scripting or additional infrastructure. Option D requires creating a custom Lambda function (scripting) and an SNS topic (additional infrastructure), which violates the constraint.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the question allowed custom scripting and additional infrastructure, and the requirement was to perform a custom action (e.g., stopping only specific instances or sending a custom notification) when a budget threshold is reached, then using a budget alert to trigger an SNS topic that invokes a Lambda function would be appropriate.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that any automation involving EC2 stop actions requires a custom Lambda function, not realizing that AWS Budgets can directly trigger Systems Manager automation documents without custom code.
Analysis generated from the official CLF-C02blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CLF-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CLF-C02 exam.