SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Question
A company runs a web application on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. Recently, the application has been experiencing intermittent latency spikes. CloudWatch metrics show high CPU utilization on the instances during these spikes, but no corresponding increase in request count. Which action is MOST likely to identify the root cause?
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
✓
Enable detailed monitoring on the EC2 instances.
Enabling detailed monitoring on EC2 instances provides CloudWatch metrics at a 1-minute granularity, which is crucial for identifying the exact timing and duration of CPU spikes. The intermittent nature of the latency spikes and the lack of correlation with request count suggest that the root cause may be a specific process or internal instance activity. Detailed monitoring allows for more precise analysis of CPU usage patterns, helping to isolate the cause. Option A is incorrect because increasing instance size only masks the symptom without addressing the underlying issue. Option C is incorrect because scaling policies respond to sustained high CPU utilization, not intermittent spikes, and would not help identify the root cause. Option D is incorrect because CloudTrail logs API calls and does not provide instance-level metric data needed to diagnose CPU spikes.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increase the instance size to handle the load.
Why it's wrong here
This masks the symptom but does not identify the root cause.
- ✓
Enable detailed monitoring on the EC2 instances.
Why this is correct
Detailed monitoring provides metrics at 1-minute granularity, helping to identify when spikes occur.
- ✗
Add a scaling policy based on CPU utilization.
Why it's wrong here
Scaling policies address sustained high CPU, not intermittent spikes.
- ✗
Enable AWS CloudTrail to log EC2 API calls.
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail logs API calls, not instance-level metrics like CPU.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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