The correct solution is to enable ALB access logs, store them in Amazon S3, and query them with Amazon Athena. This works because ALB access logs capture detailed HTTP request data—including source IP, request URI, and response codes—and S3 provides a cost-effective, durable storage layer for large volumes of log data. Athena then allows you to run standard SQL queries directly on those logs without provisioning any servers or loading data into a database, making it ideal for analyzing error patterns and identifying top IP addresses. On the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional DOP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of serverless analytics and log storage optimization; a common trap is choosing Amazon RDS or Redshift for log analysis, which would incur unnecessary costs and complexity. Remember the memory tip: “Logs to S3, query with Athena—no servers, no fuss.”
DOP-C02 Monitoring and Logging Practice Question
This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring and logging. 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 runs a web application behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB) in a production AWS account. The DevOps team needs to analyze HTTP request patterns and identify the top IP addresses generating errors. They want to store the data cost-effectively for querying with SQL. Which solution meets these requirements?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Enable ALB access logs and store them in Amazon S3, then use Amazon Athena to query the logs with SQL.
Option D is correct because ALB access logs provide detailed HTTP request data (including source IP, request URI, response code, etc.) and are stored in Amazon S3, which is cost-effective for long-term storage. Amazon Athena allows querying these logs directly with standard SQL without needing to load data into a database, meeting the requirement for SQL-based analysis of top IP addresses generating errors.
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.
✗
Use CloudWatch Metrics to monitor error rates and top IPs via custom metrics.
Why it's wrong here
Custom metrics are limited and require code changes; they don't provide full request detail.
✗
Enable CloudWatch Logs for the ALB and use CloudWatch Logs Insights to query the logs.
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch Logs Insights uses a query language similar to SQL but is not SQL and can be costly for large volumes.
✗
Stream the ALB logs to Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics and use SQL applications.
Why it's wrong here
Kinesis Data Analytics is for real-time streaming, not cost-effective for historical analysis.
✓
Enable ALB access logs and store them in Amazon S3, then use Amazon Athena to query the logs with SQL.
Why this is correct
This is cost-effective and allows SQL querying of historical logs.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse CloudWatch Logs (which for ALB only contain error logs, not full request details) with ALB access logs (which are stored in S3 and contain all request data), leading them to choose Option B instead of D.
Trap categories for this question
Similar concept trap
CloudWatch Logs Insights uses a query language similar to SQL but is not SQL and can be costly for large volumes.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
ALB access logs are delivered to S3 in a gzip-compressed format, reducing storage costs, and Athena uses a table definition (e.g., via AWS Glue or a CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE statement) to parse the logs using a SerDe (like RegexSerDe or LazySimpleSerDe). The logs include fields like `client_ip`, `request_verb`, `response_code`, and `elb_status_code`, enabling precise identification of top error-generating IPs with a query such as `SELECT client_ip, COUNT(*) as error_count FROM alb_logs WHERE elb_status_code >= 400 GROUP BY client_ip ORDER BY error_count DESC LIMIT 10`. A real-world scenario is a company needing to investigate a DDoS attack by analyzing historical access patterns without paying for real-time processing.
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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
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.
Monitoring and Logging — This question tests Monitoring and Logging — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Enable ALB access logs and store them in Amazon S3, then use Amazon Athena to query the logs with SQL. — Option D is correct because ALB access logs provide detailed HTTP request data (including source IP, request URI, response code, etc.) and are stored in Amazon S3, which is cost-effective for long-term storage. Amazon Athena allows querying these logs directly with standard SQL without needing to load data into a database, meeting the requirement for SQL-based analysis of top IP addresses generating errors.
What should I do if I get this DOP-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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A DevOps engineer needs to collect and analyze logs from multiple AWS services, including EC2, Lambda, and API Gateway. The logs must be stored in a central location for long-term retention and analyzed using SQL queries. Which TWO services should be combined to achieve this? (Choose TWO.)
easy
A.AWS CloudTrail
✓ B.Amazon CloudWatch Logs
C.Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose
D.Amazon SQS
✓ E.Amazon Athena
Why B: Correct options: B and E. Option B: CloudWatch Logs can collect logs from many AWS services. Option E: Exporting logs to S3 and using Athena allows SQL-based analysis. Option A is wrong because CloudTrail is for API logs, not all service logs. Option C is wrong because Kinesis Data Firehose is for real-time streaming, not for ad-hoc SQL queries. Option D is wrong because SQS is a message queue, not a log store.
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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.
Question Discussion
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