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Monitoring and Logging →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

Quick Answer

The correct solution is to create an Amazon CloudWatch alarm on the CPUUtilization metric with a period of 5 minutes and a threshold of 80, and set the alarm action to send a notification to an Amazon SNS topic. This works because CloudWatch metric math allows you to evaluate a single metric—like RDS CPU utilization—over a specified time period, and when the value exceeds the threshold for the duration of that period, the alarm state triggers an SNS notification directly. On the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional DOP-C02 exam, this question tests your understanding of CloudWatch alarms versus other services like CloudTrail or Trusted Advisor, which are common distractors; CloudTrail tracks API calls, not performance metrics, and Trusted Advisor provides best-practice checks but cannot create custom alarms. A key trap is confusing CloudWatch Logs Insights, which analyzes log data, with metric-based alarms. Remember the mnemonic: "CPU over 80 for five? CloudWatch alarm, SNS to drive."

DOP-C02 Monitoring and Logging Practice Question

This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring and logging. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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's DevOps team notices that their Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL instance's CPU utilization spikes to 90% every day at 10:00 AM, causing application latency. They want to be notified when the CPU utilization exceeds 80% for more than 5 minutes to investigate the cause. Which solution should they implement?

Question 1mediummultiple choice
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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

✓

Create an Amazon CloudWatch alarm on the CPUUtilization metric with a period of 5 minutes and a threshold of 80, and set the alarm action to send a notification to an Amazon SNS topic.

Option D is correct because a CloudWatch alarm with a metric math expression can trigger an SNS notification when CPUUtilization exceeds 80% for 5 minutes. Option A is wrong because CloudTrail does not monitor CPU utilization. Option B is wrong because Trusted Advisor does not create custom alarms. Option C is wrong because CloudWatch Logs Insights is for log analysis, not metric alarms.

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 Amazon CloudWatch Logs Insights to query the RDS logs and trigger an SNS notification when CPU utilization is high.

    Why it's wrong here

    CloudWatch Logs Insights queries log data, not metrics.

  • ✗

    Enable AWS Trusted Advisor to automatically create a CloudWatch alarm on the CPU utilization metric.

    Why it's wrong here

    Trusted Advisor checks best practices but does not create custom CloudWatch alarms.

  • ✓

    Create an Amazon CloudWatch alarm on the CPUUtilization metric with a period of 5 minutes and a threshold of 80, and set the alarm action to send a notification to an Amazon SNS topic.

    Why this is correct

    This directly monitors the metric and triggers notification when the threshold is breached for the specified duration.

    Related concept

    Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

  • ✗

    Create an AWS CloudTrail trail to monitor CPU utilization and trigger an AWS Lambda function to send an email notification.

    Why it's wrong here

    CloudTrail records API activity, not CPU utilization metrics.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.

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.
  • Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.

TExam Day Tips

  • Underline the problem statement mentally.
  • 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 DOP-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this DOP-C02 question test?

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: Create an Amazon CloudWatch alarm on the CPUUtilization metric with a period of 5 minutes and a threshold of 80, and set the alarm action to send a notification to an Amazon SNS topic. — Option D is correct because a CloudWatch alarm with a metric math expression can trigger an SNS notification when CPUUtilization exceeds 80% for 5 minutes. Option A is wrong because CloudTrail does not monitor CPU utilization. Option B is wrong because Trusted Advisor does not create custom alarms. Option C is wrong because CloudWatch Logs Insights is for log analysis, not metric alarms.

What should I do if I get this DOP-C02 question wrong?

Identify which DOP-C02 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.

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 →

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Same concept, more angles

2 more ways this is tested on DOP-C02

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 company uses Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL and wants to monitor database performance metrics such as CPU utilization, memory, and disk I/O. Which AWS service should be used to set up custom dashboards and alarms for these metrics?

easy
  • A.AWS X-Ray
  • B.Amazon VPC Flow Logs
  • C.AWS CloudTrail
  • ✓ D.Amazon CloudWatch

Why D: Option A is correct because CloudWatch provides metrics for RDS and allows dashboards and alarms. Option B is wrong because CloudTrail logs API calls, not performance metrics. Option C is wrong because VPC Flow Logs capture network traffic. Option D is wrong because X-Ray is for tracing requests.

Variation 2. A company needs to monitor the CPU utilization of its Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL instance. The metric should be available in Amazon CloudWatch with a granularity of 1 minute. Which action should the team take?

easy
  • A.Install the CloudWatch agent on the RDS instance.
  • B.Enable Enhanced Monitoring for the RDS instance.
  • ✓ C.No additional configuration is needed; RDS automatically sends metrics to CloudWatch.
  • D.Enable Performance Insights for the RDS instance.

Why C: Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL automatically publishes metrics, including CPU utilization, to CloudWatch with a default granularity of 1 minute for standard instances. No additional configuration is required to enable this basic monitoring. The metrics are collected by the RDS hypervisor layer and sent to CloudWatch without needing an agent or extra setup.

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Last reviewed: Jun 20, 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.