The correct answer is that the instance will be recovered, because the CloudWatch alarm action is explicitly set to ec2:recover. This recover action triggers AWS to automatically restart the EC2 instance on a new underlying host, preserving its instance ID, private IP addresses, and Elastic IPs, while the alarm’s condition of CPU utilization exceeding 80% for two consecutive minutes simply serves as the trigger metric. On the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional DOP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of the difference between recover and reboot actions—a common trap is confusing the two, as reboot restarts the OS but does not move the instance to a new host. Remember that recover is for hardware-level issues, while reboot is for software-level issues. A quick memory tip: “Recover moves the host, reboot restarts the OS.”
DOP-C02 Incident and Event Response Practice Question
This DOP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of incident and event response. 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.
Refer to the exhibit. A CloudWatch alarm is configured for an EC2 instance. The CPU utilization exceeds 80% for two consecutive minutes. What action will occur?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The instance will be recovered.
Option C is correct because the alarm action is 'ec2:recover', which initiates instance recovery. Option A is wrong because the action is recover, not reboot. Option B is wrong because the alarm does not stop the instance. Option D is wrong because the alarm evaluates every 60 seconds, not 2 minutes as a total period.
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.
✗
No action will be taken because the period is 60 seconds.
Why it's wrong here
Period is 60 seconds; evaluation periods are 2, so 2 minutes.
✓
The instance will be recovered.
Why this is correct
Alarm triggers instance recovery.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The instance will be rebooted.
Why it's wrong here
Action is recover, not reboot.
✗
The instance will be stopped.
Why it's wrong here
Action is recover.
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.
Incident and Event Response — This question tests Incident and Event Response — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The instance will be recovered. — Option C is correct because the alarm action is 'ec2:recover', which initiates instance recovery. Option A is wrong because the action is recover, not reboot. Option B is wrong because the alarm does not stop the instance. Option D is wrong because the alarm evaluates every 60 seconds, not 2 minutes as a total period.
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 →
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 receives an alarm that an EC2 instance's CPU utilization has exceeded 90% for 5 minutes. The engineer needs to automatically recover the instance. Which AWS service should be used to configure automatic recovery?
easy
✓ A.Amazon CloudWatch Alarms
B.AWS Lambda
C.AWS Systems Manager Automation
D.EC2 Auto Scaling
Why A: Amazon CloudWatch Alarms can be configured to trigger an EC2 instance recovery action when a metric like CPU utilization exceeds a threshold (e.g., 90% for 5 minutes). The alarm sends a signal to the EC2 service, which automatically recovers the instance by stopping it and starting it on a new underlying host, preserving the instance ID, private IP, and Elastic IP. This is the native, built-in mechanism for automatic instance recovery without requiring additional compute or orchestration services.
Last reviewed: Jun 20, 2026
Question Discussion
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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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