Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
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?
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 Cost Explorer
AWS Cost Explorer provides visual dashboards and can display hourly data for some services, but it is primarily an interactive tool for ad-hoc analysis. It does not automatically export raw, resource-level data with cost allocation tags to an S3 bucket for BI ingestion. The Cost and Usage Report is designed for that purpose.
B
Distractor review
AWS Budgets
AWS Budgets is used to set spending thresholds and receive alerts when costs or usage exceed (or are forecasted to exceed) the budget. It does not generate detailed historical cost reports or export data to S3.
C
Best answer
AWS Cost and Usage Report
The AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR) is the most comprehensive tool for cost and usage data. It can be configured to deliver hourly, daily, or monthly reports to an S3 bucket, including line items for individual resources and all user-defined cost allocation tags. This makes it ideal for ingestion into BI tools for detailed custom analysis.
D
Distractor review
AWS Trusted Advisor
AWS Trusted Advisor inspects your AWS environment and provides recommendations to optimize costs, improve performance, and enhance security. It does not generate raw cost and usage reports or export data to S3 for external analysis.
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 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 5
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?
Question 6
A company archives historical transaction records in Amazon S3. The records are accessed frequently for the first 30 days after creation. After 30 days, access drops sharply to only a few times per year, but the company must be able to retrieve any record within 5 minutes if needed. The company wants to minimize storage costs while meeting the retrieval time requirement. Which combination of S3 storage classes should the company 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 Cost and Usage Report — The AWS Cost and Usage Report (CUR) is the correct tool for generating detailed, granular cost and usage data. It provides hourly or daily cost data at the resource level (e.g., individual EC2 instance IDs) and includes all cost allocation tags. The report is delivered to an S3 bucket in CSV or Parquet format, making it ideal for importing into BI tools for custom analysis. AWS Cost Explorer offers historical cost visualization and can show hourly granularity for supported services, but it does not export raw resource-level data with tags to S3. AWS Budgets is used for setting cost thresholds and sending alerts, not for detailed cost reporting. AWS Trusted Advisor provides cost optimization recommendations but does not generate raw cost reports. Therefore, CUR is the most appropriate choice for the team's requirements.
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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