A company has multiple AWS accounts consolidated under AWS Organizations. The finance team wants to set a hard monthly cost limit for a development account. If the forecasted costs for the month exceed that limit, the team wants AWS to automatically stop all non-critical Amazon EC2 instances in that account to prevent overspending. The team also needs to receive an email alert when the cost threshold is first crossed. Which AWS service or feature should the team use to define the budget and configure the automated action?
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.
Best answer
AWS Budgets with an Amazon EC2 action
AWS Budgets supports creating budget actions that can automatically stop or terminate Amazon EC2 instances when a cost or usage threshold is exceeded. This meets the requirement for both the automated action and the email alert.
Distractor review
AWS Cost Explorer
AWS Cost Explorer is used for visualizing and analyzing historical cost data and future trends. It does not support configuring automated actions to modify resources.
Distractor review
AWS Trusted Advisor
AWS Trusted Advisor provides recommendations for cost optimization, performance, and security, but it cannot automatically stop resources. It is an advisory tool only.
Distractor review
AWS Organizations
AWS Organizations helps centrally manage multiple accounts and apply service control policies, but it does not provide cost budgeting or automated actions to stop resources when budgets are exceeded.
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 Budgets with an Amazon EC2 action — AWS Budgets allows you to set custom cost and usage budgets. You can configure budget actions that automatically run IAM policies or AWS Systems Manager automation documents to stop EC2 instances when a budget threshold is exceeded. AWS Cost Explorer is a visualization tool for analyzing historical costs and usage, but it does not support automated actions. AWS Trusted Advisor provides cost optimization recommendations but does not automate budget enforcement. AWS Organizations manages account policies and consolidated billing but does not provide budget-based actions.
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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