DOP-C02 Incident and Event Response Practice Question
Network Topology
The CloudWatch alarm 'HighCPU' has transitioned to ALARM state. What does the alarm history indicate about the metric that triggered it?
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
✓
The metric value of 90.0 exceeded the threshold of 80.0.
The alarm history shows that a single datapoint with a value of 90.0 exceeded the threshold of 80.0, causing the alarm to transition to ALARM state. Option A is incorrect because the metric value (90.0) did not remain below the threshold. Option B is incorrect because the value was 90.0, not exactly 80.0. Option D is incorrect because the alarm history indicates that only one datapoint breached the threshold, not three consecutive datapoints.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The metric value remained below the threshold.
Why it's wrong here
This is incorrect because the CloudWatch alarm history shows the metric value at the moment of evaluation was 90.0, which is above the configured threshold of 80.0. If the value had remained below 80.0, the alarm would have stayed in the OK state, so the transition to ALARM would not have occurred. For a threshold-crossing alarm, the comparison is strictly greater than the threshold (depending on the comparison operator), and a value of 90.0 clearly exceeds it.
- ✗
The metric value was exactly 80.0 at the time of the alarm.
Why it's wrong here
This is incorrect because a value exactly equal to the threshold (80.0) would not satisfy the condition for a GreaterThanThreshold alarm unless the operator were specifically configured to be GreaterThanOrEqualToThreshold, which is not indicated here. The recorded datapoint in the alarm history is 90.0, not 80.0. Therefore, the trigger was not a borderline equality case but a clear breach of the threshold.
- ✓
The metric value of 90.0 exceeded the threshold of 80.0.
Why this is correct
This is correct because the alarm history explicitly states that the metric value was 90.0, which is 10 units above the threshold of 80.0. For a CloudWatch alarm configured with the GreaterThanThreshold comparison, the alarm transitions to ALARM when the evaluated datapoint exceeds the threshold. The history also shows the evaluation period of 1 out of 1 datapoints, confirming that this single breach was sufficient to trigger the alarm.
- ✗
The alarm was triggered after 3 consecutive datapoints breached the threshold.
Why it's wrong here
This is incorrect because the alarm history indicates that only 1 out of 1 datapoints breached the threshold, not 3 consecutive datapoints. The evaluation period setting, which defaults to 1 for a single datapoint, determines how many consecutive periods need to be in breach before transitioning to ALARM. In this scenario, the alarm was configured with an evaluation period of 1, so a single datapoint of 90.0 was enough to trigger it.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.