- A
AWS CloudTrail
Why wrong: CloudTrail records API calls and user activity for auditing. It does not collect performance metrics or send alerts based on CPU utilisation.
- B
AWS Config
Why wrong: AWS Config tracks configuration changes to AWS resources and evaluates compliance against rules. It does not monitor real-time performance metrics like CPU utilisation.
- C
Amazon CloudWatch
CloudWatch is the AWS monitoring service. It collects EC2 CPU utilisation metrics, allows you to create alarms with configurable thresholds and evaluation periods, and integrates with SNS to send email notifications when alarms fire.
- D
AWS X-Ray
Why wrong: AWS X-Ray is an application performance tracing service that helps debug and analyse distributed applications. It does not provide infrastructure-level metric collection or alarming.
CLF-C02 Cloud Technology and Services Practice Question
This CLF-C02 practice question tests your understanding of cloud technology and services. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company wants to monitor the CPU utilisation of their EC2 instances and automatically send an email alert when utilisation exceeds 80% for more than 5 consecutive minutes. Which AWS service provides this monitoring and alerting capability?
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
Amazon CloudWatch
Amazon CloudWatch is the correct service because it provides both monitoring of EC2 CPU utilization metrics and the ability to create CloudWatch Alarms that trigger actions, such as sending an email via Amazon SNS, when a metric like CPUUtilization exceeds a threshold (e.g., 80%) for a specified number of consecutive evaluation periods (e.g., 5 minutes). This directly fulfills the requirement for monitoring and alerting on CPU utilization.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS CloudTrail
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail records API calls and user activity for auditing. It does not collect performance metrics or send alerts based on CPU utilisation.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config tracks configuration changes to AWS resources and evaluates compliance against rules. It does not monitor real-time performance metrics like CPU utilisation.
- ✓
Amazon CloudWatch
Why this is correct
CloudWatch is the AWS monitoring service. It collects EC2 CPU utilisation metrics, allows you to create alarms with configurable thresholds and evaluation periods, and integrates with SNS to send email notifications when alarms fire.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
AWS X-Ray
Why it's wrong here
AWS X-Ray is an application performance tracing service that helps debug and analyse distributed applications. It does not provide infrastructure-level metric collection or alarming.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse CloudTrail (audit logging) with CloudWatch (monitoring), or assume AWS Config can handle performance alerts, when in fact only CloudWatch provides metric-based monitoring and alarm actions.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
CloudWatch collects EC2 CPU utilization as a standard metric at 5-minute intervals by default (or 1-minute with detailed monitoring enabled). A CloudWatch Alarm evaluates the metric against a threshold (e.g., > 80%) over a number of consecutive periods (e.g., 5 periods of 1 minute each) using a statistic like Average or Maximum, and when the alarm state changes to ALARM, it publishes to an SNS topic that can send an email notification. This mechanism relies on the CloudWatch Metrics and Alarms API, which uses a sliding window evaluation to ensure the condition persists for the specified duration before triggering.
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.
TExam Day Tips
- 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.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this CLF-C02 question test?
Cloud Technology and Services — This question tests Cloud Technology and Services — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Amazon CloudWatch — Amazon CloudWatch is the correct service because it provides both monitoring of EC2 CPU utilization metrics and the ability to create CloudWatch Alarms that trigger actions, such as sending an email via Amazon SNS, when a metric like CPUUtilization exceeds a threshold (e.g., 80%) for a specified number of consecutive evaluation periods (e.g., 5 minutes). This directly fulfills the requirement for monitoring and alerting on CPU utilization.
What should I do if I get this CLF-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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