DEA-C01 S3 CloudWatch 4xxErrors metric Practice Question
A data engineer needs to monitor the number of Amazon S3 PUT requests that result in a 403 AccessDenied error. Which AWS service should be used to capture the necessary data?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates may assume that the built‑in S3 request metrics can be filtered by status code. In reality, the 4xxErrors metric cannot be segmented by individual error codes; CloudTrail must be used for this granularity.
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
✓
AWS CloudTrail data events
S3 request metrics do not provide filtering by status code; the 4xxErrors metric aggregates all 4xx errors. To monitor specific 403 AccessDenied errors, you should use AWS CloudTrail data events, which capture API call details including error codes. You can create a CloudWatch metric filter on the CloudTrail log group to emit a custom metric for 403 errors, enabling monitoring and alarming.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon CloudWatch S3 request metrics
Why it's wrong here
S3 request metrics (like 4xxErrors) do not allow filtering by specific error codes; they aggregate all 4xx errors.
- ✗
Amazon S3 server access logs
Why it's wrong here
S3 server access logs can capture 403 errors but are not the recommended service for real‑time monitoring via CloudWatch metrics; CloudTrail is preferred.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config tracks configuration changes, not API request errors.
- ✓
AWS CloudTrail data events
Why this is correct
AWS CloudTrail data events capture API calls details, including error codes. You can create a CloudWatch metric filter on the CloudTrail log group to monitor specific errors like 403.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DEA-C01 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 DEA-C01 exam.