Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company runs a production web application on a fleet of Amazon EC2 instances. The operations team has observed that most instances have an average CPU utilization below 10% over the past month. They want to receive automated, ML-based recommendations for downsizing these instances to smaller instance types to reduce costs without compromising performance. The team also wants to see the estimated monthly savings for each recommendation. Which AWS service should the operations team use?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Distractor review
AWS Trusted Advisor
AWS Trusted Advisor provides best-practice checks including cost optimization, but its checks for underutilized instances are based on simple thresholds, not machine learning. It does not provide per-instance right-sizing recommendations with savings estimates.
B
Distractor review
AWS Cost Explorer
AWS Cost Explorer provides cost and usage reports, as well as Reserved Instance and Savings Plan recommendations. It does not recommend downsizing existing On-Demand instances.
C
Best answer
AWS Compute Optimizer
Correct. AWS Compute Optimizer uses ML to analyze utilization patterns and recommends optimal instance types and sizes, including downsizing opportunities, along with estimated savings.
D
Distractor review
AWS Budgets
AWS Budgets allows you to set cost or usage thresholds and receive alerts. It does not analyze resource utilization or provide right-sizing recommendations.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
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More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A developer needs to launch a test server for a new application prototype. The developer logs into the AWS Management Console, selects an Amazon EC2 instance type, configures the security group, and starts the instance. The instance is running within two minutes, and the developer did not need to submit a formal request to the company's IT procurement team or wait for approval from a cloud administrator. Which essential characteristic of cloud computing does this scenario best demonstrate?
Question 2
A solutions architect is planning a new web application on AWS. The workload will include 3 Amazon EC2 instances (t3.medium) running 24/7, an Application Load Balancer, and an Amazon RDS for MySQL db.t3.small database. The architect needs to estimate the monthly cost for the first year, considering different purchasing options (On-Demand, 1-year All Upfront Reserved Instance, and Compute Savings Plan). Which AWS tool should the architect use to create this estimate?
Question 3
A company's development team frequently needs temporary test environments. A developer can log into the AWS Management Console, select an Amazon EC2 instance type, configure storage, and launch the instance within minutes without any interaction with the IT infrastructure team. This capability is an example of which essential characteristic of cloud computing?
Question 4
A company's finance team needs to analyze AWS spending in detail. They require a report that includes hourly cost data for each AWS service, each individual resource (e.g., a specific EC2 instance), and any cost allocation tags applied. The team plans to export this data to an Amazon S3 bucket and then import it into a custom business intelligence (BI) analytics dashboard. Which AWS tool should the finance team use to generate this level of detailed cost data?
Question 5
A company uses AWS for its development environment. The finance team wants to set a monthly budget of $10,000. They want to receive an email notification when the actual costs reach 80% of the budget ($8,000) and again when costs exceed the budget. The team needs a managed AWS service that can automatically send these alerts without requiring custom code or third-party tools. Which AWS service should the team use?
Question 6
A company uses AWS Organizations to manage multiple accounts. The security team needs to enforce a policy that restricts SSH access (port 22) from the internet (0.0.0.0/0) in all VPCs across all accounts. The team wants to centrally define the allowed rules and automatically apply them to newly created VPCs and security groups, while also automatically remediating any existing non-compliant security groups. Which AWS service should the team use?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: AWS Compute Optimizer — AWS Compute Optimizer uses machine learning to analyze historical utilization metrics (CPU, memory, network) and provides right-sizing recommendations for Amazon EC2 instances, along with estimated cost savings. This is the correct choice for data-driven, automated instance size recommendations. AWS Trusted Advisor includes cost optimization checks but does not provide the same level of granular, ML-based rightsizing. AWS Cost Explorer is for cost visualization and Reserved Instance/Savings Plan recommendations, not instance right-sizing. AWS Budgets is for setting cost and usage budgets with alerts, not for recommendations.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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