The correct answer is Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) used in conjunction with AWS CloudTrail. CloudTrail captures the API calls for Auto Scaling instance events, specifically RunInstances and TerminateInstances, and can deliver these logs to Amazon CloudWatch Logs. From there, you create a metric filter to detect these specific events, which triggers a CloudWatch Alarm that publishes a notification to an SNS topic, enabling real-time alerts for instance launches or terminations. On the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional DOP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of event-driven monitoring without relying on lifecycle hooks or EC2 instance status checks—a common trap is choosing Amazon EventBridge alone, but the question specifically requires two services working together. Remember that CloudTrail is the audit trail for API calls, while SNS handles the push notification delivery. A useful memory tip: "Trail the API, then SNS the alert."
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 DevOps engineer is monitoring an Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling group. The engineer wants to receive notifications when instances are launched or terminated. Which TWO AWS services can be used together to achieve this? (Choose TWO.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
AWS CloudTrail
AWS CloudTrail captures API calls made to the EC2 Auto Scaling service, including RunInstances and TerminateInstances events. By sending these events to Amazon CloudWatch Logs, you can create metric filters that trigger CloudWatch Alarms, which then publish notifications to an SNS topic. This combination allows you to receive real-time notifications when instances are launched or terminated.
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.
✗
AWS X-Ray
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: X-Ray is for tracing.
✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: Config records configuration changes but not real-time notifications.
✗
Amazon CloudWatch Alarms
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: Alarms are for metric thresholds, not instance lifecycle events.
✓
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
Correct: CloudTrail logs Auto Scaling API calls and can be used with EventBridge for notifications.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)
Why this is correct
Correct: Auto Scaling can publish notifications to SNS.
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 Alarms as a standalone solution, but they require a data source (like CloudTrail logs) to detect instance lifecycle events, making the combination of CloudTrail and SNS the correct pairing.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, CloudTrail records all Auto Scaling API calls as events in a specified S3 bucket or CloudWatch Logs log group. You can then create a CloudWatch Logs metric filter that matches the eventName field (e.g., 'RunInstances' or 'TerminateInstances') and set a CloudWatch Alarm on that metric. The alarm transitions to ALARM state when the metric exceeds a threshold (e.g., >0), which then publishes to an SNS topic to send email or SMS notifications. This approach is stateless and event-driven, ensuring near real-time alerts without polling.
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 cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
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: AWS CloudTrail — AWS CloudTrail captures API calls made to the EC2 Auto Scaling service, including RunInstances and TerminateInstances events. By sending these events to Amazon CloudWatch Logs, you can create metric filters that trigger CloudWatch Alarms, which then publish notifications to an SNS topic. This combination allows you to receive real-time notifications when instances are launched or terminated.
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.
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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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