DOP-C02 Incident and Event Response Practice Question
A company runs a containerized application on Amazon ECS with Fargate launch type. The application experiences periodic spikes in response times. The CloudWatch metrics show high CPU and memory usage for the tasks during these spikes. What is the MOST effective approach to handle these spikes?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse increasing task-level resources (CPU/memory limits) with horizontal scaling, or assume scheduled scaling is sufficient, failing to recognize that unpredictable spikes require reactive, metric-based auto scaling.
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
✓
Configure target tracking scaling policies for the ECS service using CPU or memory utilization
Target tracking scaling policies for Amazon ECS services using CPU or memory utilization are the most effective approach because they dynamically adjust the number of tasks in response to real-time demand, automatically adding capacity during spikes and removing it when load subsides. This aligns with the AWS Well-Architected Framework's principle of elasticity, ensuring the application scales out precisely when high CPU/memory usage is detected, without manual intervention or over-provisioning.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use a larger Fargate task size to handle the spikes
Why it's wrong here
Upgrading to a larger Fargate task size is a form of vertical scaling; it increases per-instance resources but does not increase the number of tasks serving traffic. Under a sudden spike, a single large task can still reach its concurrency or connection limits, and Fargate's maximum task size sets a hard ceiling on how far you can scale up. The correct approach is to scale horizontally by adding tasks dynamically.
- ✗
Increase the CPU and memory limits for the ECS task definition
Why it's wrong here
Raising the CPU and memory values in the ECS task definition only changes the resources the ECS scheduler allocates to each task, not how many tasks are running. If the application is already CPU- or memory-bound in a way that cannot be fully utilized due to single-process design or external bottlenecks, extra capacity on each task will not absorb a surge in concurrent requests. The service still has a fixed desired count and will need manual intervention, whereas target tracking scales the number of tasks automatically.
- ✗
Set up a scheduled scaling action to add tasks during peak hours
Why it's wrong here
Scheduled scaling actions are designed for predictable, time-based traffic patterns, such as peak hours on business days. They cannot react to an unexpected, sudden spike because the scheduled step simply adjusts desired count at a pre-set time; if the spike arrives between scheduled changes, the service remains under-provisioned. Target tracking scaling continuously monitors utilization and adjusts capacity in real time, making it suitable for unpredictable demand.
- ✓
Configure target tracking scaling policies for the ECS service using CPU or memory utilization
Why this is correct
Configuring target tracking scaling policies for the ECS service lets AWS automatically scale the number of tasks in response to actual load, using CloudWatch metrics such as CPUUtilization or MemoryUtilization. The policy works by maintaining a specified target value (for example, 70% CPU) and triggers scale-out or scale-in based on aggregated utilization across the service. This is the recommended pattern for handling spikes in containerized workloads on ECS, as it provides reactive, horizontal scaling without manual intervention.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DOP-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 DOP-C02 exam.