Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company uses Amazon EC2 instances and Amazon S3 for its workloads. The finance team reviews the monthly AWS bill and notices it includes line items for EC2 instance hours, data transfer out from EC2, and S3 storage usage. The bill shows exactly how many hours each instance ran and how much data was transferred. The company uses this detailed usage data to allocate costs to different departments and to optimize resource utilization. This scenario best demonstrates which essential characteristic of cloud computing?
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
Best answer
Measured service
This is correct because measured service is the characteristic where cloud providers meter usage and provide detailed reports, enabling customers to understand and optimize costs. The scenario of receiving a detailed per-hour and per-gigabyte bill directly illustrates this concept.
B
Distractor review
On-demand self-service
This is incorrect. On-demand self-service refers to a consumer's ability to provision computing resources, such as launching an EC2 instance, without requiring human interaction with the service provider. The scenario focuses on billing granularity, not on the provisioning process.
C
Distractor review
Broad network access
This is incorrect. Broad network access means that resources are accessible over the network through standard mechanisms (e.g., web browsers, APIs). The scenario does not involve how the resources are accessed but rather how usage is measured and billed.
D
Distractor review
Resource pooling
This is incorrect. Resource pooling refers to the provider's computing resources being pooled to serve multiple consumers, with physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned. The scenario is about metering usage, not about the multi-tenant nature of the infrastructure.
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: Measured service — The correct answer is 'Measured service'. Measured service is one of the five essential characteristics of cloud computing defined by NIST. It means that cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability. This usage is monitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both the provider and consumer. In this scenario, the detailed bill showing exact hours of EC2 usage, data transfer volumes, and S3 storage amounts is a direct example of measured service: the provider meters usage and reports it in a detailed manner, allowing the customer to understand and control costs. On-demand self-service is about provisioning resources without human interaction, not about billing granularity. Broad network access refers to accessibility over the network via standard protocols. Resource pooling describes multi-tenant sharing of physical infrastructure. Rapid elasticity is the ability to scale resources quickly. None of these relate to the detailed usage metering and reporting described in the scenario.
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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