SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Question
A company is using AWS Config to evaluate resource compliance. They want to receive notifications when a noncompliant resource is detected. Which AWS service should be used to send these notifications to an email endpoint?
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
✓
Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)
(Amazon SNS) is correct because Amazon SNS can send email notifications when triggered by AWS Config rules to notify about noncompliant resources. Option A (SQS) is incorrect because SQS is a message queue service that does not directly send email. Option C (CloudWatch Events) can trigger other actions but cannot directly send email to endpoints. Option D (AWS Lambda) can process notifications but requires additional services like SNS to send email.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS)
Why it's wrong here
SQS stores messages for polling consumers and cannot push to an email endpoint; nothing delivers the notification without an additional subscriber. SQS suits decoupling Config events from downstream processing where a worker polls the queue, not direct human notification.
- ✓
Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)
Why this is correct
AWS Config rules publish compliance-change events to an Amazon SNS topic, which then delivers them to email, SMS or HTTP endpoints. SNS provides the pub/sub fan-out the stem's email notification requirement demands, unlike CloudWatch Events alone or direct Lambda invocation.
- ✗
Amazon CloudWatch Events
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch Events (EventBridge) routes event patterns to targets but cannot itself deliver email; an SNS topic with an email subscription is required. It is tempting because Config does publish compliance change events, and EventBridge is the correct choice when the target is Lambda, SQS or Step Functions.
- ✗
AWS Lambda
Why it's wrong here
Lambda executes code in response to triggers but has no native email delivery; it would need to call Amazon SES or SNS, adding components the question does not ask for. Lambda is the right choice when compliance events require custom remediation logic or transformation before notification.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SAP-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 SAP-C02 exam.