This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring and logging. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 team has set up centralized logging for multiple AWS accounts using Amazon OpenSearch Service. The team uses CloudWatch cross-account observability to collect logs from various accounts into a monitoring account. Recently, logs from one source account stopped appearing in the monitoring account's OpenSearch dashboard. Other source accounts continue to send logs successfully. Which step should the team take to troubleshoot this issue?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Check the source account's CloudWatch Logs subscription filter for the OpenSearch destination.
Option B is correct because the most likely cause of logs from a single source account failing to appear is a misconfigured or broken CloudWatch Logs subscription filter. This filter is responsible for forwarding log events from the source account to the OpenSearch destination in the monitoring account. If the filter is missing, misconfigured, or has been accidentally deleted, logs will not be sent, while other accounts continue to work normally.
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.
✗
Verify that the monitoring account's CloudWatch cross-account observability is enabled.
Why it's wrong here
Other accounts are working, so this is not the issue.
✓
Check the source account's CloudWatch Logs subscription filter for the OpenSearch destination.
Why this is correct
The subscription filter may have been deleted or misconfigured, stopping log forwarding.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Review the source account's CloudWatch Logs retention policy to confirm logs are not expired.
Why it's wrong here
Logs are still in CloudWatch Logs; the retention policy does not affect forwarding.
✗
Ensure the IAM role in the source account has the correct trust policy for the monitoring account.
Why it's wrong here
Cross-account observability uses resource policies, not roles.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse the cross-account observability setup (which uses IAM roles and trust policies) with the actual log delivery mechanism (subscription filters), leading them to check the IAM role or the monitoring account configuration instead of the source account's subscription filter.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
CloudWatch Logs subscription filters use a destination ARN (e.g., an OpenSearch cluster or a Kinesis stream) to stream log events in real time. The filter is configured per log group and can be verified via the AWS CLI command `aws logs describe-subscription-filters`. A common subtlety is that the destination must have a resource-based policy allowing the source account to write, but since other accounts work, the issue is likely the filter itself, not the policy.
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 company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
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: Check the source account's CloudWatch Logs subscription filter for the OpenSearch destination. — Option B is correct because the most likely cause of logs from a single source account failing to appear is a misconfigured or broken CloudWatch Logs subscription filter. This filter is responsible for forwarding log events from the source account to the OpenSearch destination in the monitoring account. If the filter is missing, misconfigured, or has been accidentally deleted, logs will not be sent, while other accounts continue to work normally.
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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