Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company has a monthly budget of $10,000 for its development AWS account. The project manager wants to receive an automated email alert when the actual costs for the current month reach 80% of the budget. The project manager does not want to build any custom code or manage any infrastructure for this alert. Which approach should the project manager take to meet these requirements?
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
Create a budget in AWS Budgets for the account, set the budget amount to $10,000, configure an alert for actual cost at 80% of the budget amount, and specify an email address to receive the notification.
Correct. AWS Budgets allows you to set a cost budget and define alerts for actual or forecasted costs. When the actual costs reach the 80% threshold, Budgets sends a notification to the specified email address. This is a fully managed feature with no custom code or infrastructure required.
B
Distractor review
Create a cost allocation tag in the Billing and Cost Management console, then configure an Amazon SNS topic to send an email when the tag's cost reaches $8,000.
Incorrect. Cost allocation tags are used to categorize costs (e.g., by project or department) for reporting in Cost Explorer and the Cost and Usage Report. They do not have any built-in alerting or budget enforcement capabilities. Tags cannot trigger notifications.
C
Distractor review
Create a usage report in AWS Cost Explorer, set a forecast alert at 80% of the monthly budget, and configure the report to be sent via email.
Incorrect. AWS Cost Explorer is a tool for visualizing, analyzing, and exploring your AWS costs and usage over time. It can generate reports, but it does not provide alerting or notification features based on cost thresholds. Forecasts are displayed visually, not sent as alerts.
D
Distractor review
Create an AWS Lambda function that queries the AWS Cost Explorer API daily, compares actual cost to the budget, and sends an email if costs exceed $8,000.
Incorrect. While this approach could technically work, it is unnecessarily complex. The project manager wants a solution that requires no custom code or managed infrastructure. AWS Budgets already provides this exact functionality as a free, built-in service, making a custom Lambda function an incorrect choice when a simpler managed option exists.
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: Create a budget in AWS Budgets for the account, set the budget amount to $10,000, configure an alert for actual cost at 80% of the budget amount, and specify an email address to receive the notification. — AWS Budgets is the correct service for setting a cost budget and receiving alerts when actual or forecasted costs exceed defined thresholds. Budgets can send notifications directly to an email address via Amazon SNS or to a provided email list. This solution requires no custom code or additional infrastructure. The other options either use the wrong service (Cost Explorer is for analysis, not alerts), rely on a feature that does not exist (cost allocation tags cannot trigger alerts), or involve unnecessary complexity (custom Lambda function) that AWS Budgets already handles as a managed service.
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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