The correct answer is a CloudWatch alarm configured with the CPUUtilization metric, the Average statistic, a Period of 300 seconds, a Threshold of 80, and Evaluation Periods set to 1. This works because the Period defines the window over which the metric is aggregated—300 seconds equals exactly 5 minutes—and a single evaluation period means the alarm triggers when that one 5-minute data point breaches the threshold, satisfying the requirement of “exceeds 80% for 5 consecutive minutes.” On the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional DOP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how Period and Evaluation Periods interact: many candidates mistakenly increase Evaluation Periods to 5, thinking they need five separate checks, but that would require the condition to hold for 25 minutes, not 5. The common trap is confusing “consecutive minutes” with “consecutive evaluation periods.” Memory tip: think of it as “one window, one check”—a single 300-second period is already the full 5-minute duration, so one evaluation period is all you need.
DOP-C02 Monitoring and Logging Practice Question
This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring and logging. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 setting up an alarm to notify the team when the average CPU utilization of an EC2 instance exceeds 80% for 5 consecutive minutes. Which CloudWatch alarm configuration should be used?
Option A is correct because it configures a CloudWatch alarm with a 300-second (5-minute) period and 1 evaluation period, meaning the alarm triggers when the average CPU utilization exceeds 80% for a single 5-minute data point. This directly matches the requirement of 'exceeds 80% for 5 consecutive minutes' since the metric is evaluated over a 5-minute window.
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.
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is confusing 'Evaluation Periods' with 'Period' — candidates often think 5 evaluation periods with a 60-second period is needed for 5 consecutive minutes, but that actually requires 5 separate 1-minute data points all breaching the threshold, not a single 5-minute average.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
CloudWatch alarms evaluate metrics based on the specified statistic (e.g., Average, Sum) over each period. The 'Evaluation Periods' parameter determines how many consecutive data points must breach the threshold to trigger the alarm. For a 5-minute window, setting Period=300 and EvaluationPeriods=1 is the simplest approach, as it treats the entire 5-minute block as a single data point. A common real-world scenario is monitoring burstable instances (e.g., t3.micro) where CPU credits are consumed; a 5-minute average alarm helps detect sustained high utilization that could deplete credits, whereas a 1-minute alarm might cause false positives from short spikes.
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: Metric: CPUUtilization, Statistic: Average, Period: 300 seconds, Threshold: 80, Evaluation Periods: 1 — Option A is correct because it configures a CloudWatch alarm with a 300-second (5-minute) period and 1 evaluation period, meaning the alarm triggers when the average CPU utilization exceeds 80% for a single 5-minute data point. This directly matches the requirement of 'exceeds 80% for 5 consecutive minutes' since the metric is evaluated over a 5-minute window.
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
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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 set up an alert for when the CPU utilization of an EC2 instance exceeds 90% for 5 consecutive minutes. Which CloudWatch features should be used?
easy
A.CloudWatch Logs with a metric filter on CPU utilization logs.
B.CloudTrail to monitor EC2 instance CPU usage.
✓ C.CloudWatch alarm on the CPUUtilization metric with a period of 5 minutes and threshold of 90.
D.Amazon S3 server access logs to check CPU utilization.
Why C: Option B is correct because a CloudWatch alarm can monitor a metric and trigger an action when a threshold is breached for a specified period. Option A is wrong because CloudWatch Logs does not directly monitor CPU utilization. Option C is wrong because CloudTrail records API calls, not metrics. Option D is wrong because S3 does not provide monitoring or alerting.
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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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.
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