DVA-C02 Troubleshooting and Optimization Practice Question
A developer is deploying an AWS Elastic Beanstalk application and notices that the environment's health is degraded because the application is returning HTTP 5xx errors. The developer wants to quickly identify the root cause without redeploying. Which action should the developer take?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that redeploying or rebuilding the environment is a troubleshooting step, when in fact it can destroy the evidence needed to find the root cause.
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
✓
Retrieve the full logs from the environment using the EB CLI and inspect the application log files.
The eb logs command retrieves logs from the environment's instances, including application and web server logs, which contain the error details needed to diagnose 5xx responses. This is the standard troubleshooting step for Elastic Beanstalk environments. The other options either mask the problem, add cost, or do not provide diagnostic data.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increase the environment's instance type to handle more traffic.
Why it's wrong here
Increasing the instance type addresses capacity issues, but 5xx errors can be caused by application bugs, misconfiguration, or dependency failures, not just load. Without knowing the cause, scaling up may not fix the errors and adds cost. It does not provide diagnostic information about the root cause.
- ✓
Retrieve the full logs from the environment using the EB CLI and inspect the application log files.
Why this is correct
Elastic Beanstalk provides the eb logs command, which bundles and retrieves logs from the environment's instances, including the application server logs, web server logs, and EB platform logs. Inspecting these logs reveals stack traces, errors, and configuration issues causing the 5xx responses. This is the fastest way to diagnose without redeploying.
- ✗
Disable rolling deployments and redeploy the application with a new version.
Why it's wrong here
Redeploying a new version does not help diagnose the current errors and may introduce new problems. Disabling rolling deployments affects deployment strategy, not runtime health. This action does not retrieve logs or provide insight into why the application is returning 5xx errors.
- ✗
Rebuild the environment to reset the instances and clear any transient issues.
Why it's wrong here
Rebuilding the environment recreates the instances and can resolve some transient issues, but it discards evidence and may not fix an underlying code or configuration problem. It is a heavy-handed action that takes time and does not help identify the root cause. The developer wants to diagnose, not blindly reset.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Amazon Web Services exam blueprint
This DVA-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 DVA-C02 exam.