Question 357 of 1,746
Design Solutions for Organizational ComplexityhardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

Quick Answer

The correct answer is to enable an organization trail in CloudTrail from the management account, which automatically applies to all accounts in the AWS Organization and delivers logs to a central S3 bucket. This solution works because an organization trail eliminates the need to manually enable CloudTrail in each member account, and by centralizing logs into a single S3 bucket, you can then use CloudWatch Logs with metric filters to build a unified dashboard for monitoring API activity across the entire organization. On the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of AWS Organizations integration with CloudTrail and the principle of least operational overhead—a common trap is to suggest individual trails per account or using CloudTrail Lake, which adds unnecessary complexity. Remember the key distinction: an organization trail is created only in the management account and automatically covers all existing and future accounts, while a standard trail requires per-account setup. Memory tip: "One trail to rule them all"—the management account’s organization trail is the single source of truth for central logging.

SAP-C02 Practice Question: Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity

This SAP-C02 practice question tests your understanding of design solutions for organizational complexity. 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.

A company uses AWS Organizations and has a requirement that all API calls to AWS services must be logged and monitored. The security team wants to create a central CloudWatch dashboard that shows API activity across all accounts. Which solution should be implemented with the least operational overhead?

Clue words in this question

Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.

  • Clue: "least"

    Why it matters: You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.

Question 1hardmultiple 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

Enable an organization trail in CloudTrail in the management account to deliver logs to a central S3 bucket. Use Amazon CloudWatch Logs to process the logs and create a metric filter, then build a dashboard.

Option D is correct because enabling an organization trail in CloudTrail from the management account automatically applies to all accounts in the AWS Organization, delivering logs to a central S3 bucket with minimal per-account configuration. Using CloudWatch Logs with metric filters on that S3 bucket allows the security team to create a central CloudWatch dashboard that monitors API activity across all accounts, satisfying the requirement with the least operational overhead.

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 EventBridge to capture API calls from all accounts and route them to a central CloudWatch Logs group.

    Why it's wrong here

    EventBridge does not capture all API calls by default.

  • Enable CloudTrail in each account and configure the trail to send logs to a CloudWatch Logs group in that account. Then create a cross-account CloudWatch dashboard.

    Why it's wrong here

    Requires per-account setup and cross-account dashboard.

  • Use CloudWatch cross-account observability to aggregate logs from all accounts into a single monitoring account.

    Why it's wrong here

    Adds complexity of setting up cross-account observability.

  • Enable an organization trail in CloudTrail in the management account to deliver logs to a central S3 bucket. Use Amazon CloudWatch Logs to process the logs and create a metric filter, then build a dashboard.

    Why this is correct

    Organization trail centralizes logs, and CloudWatch Logs can create metrics and dashboards.

    Clue confirmation

    The clue word "least" in the question point toward this answer.

    Related concept

    Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates often assume cross-account observability (Option C) is the simplest solution for central monitoring, but it does not natively aggregate CloudTrail logs and requires additional configuration, whereas an organization trail provides automatic, centralized logging with minimal overhead.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

An organization trail in AWS CloudTrail is created in the management account and automatically applies to all member accounts, including future accounts added to the organization, without any per-account setup. The logs are delivered to a single S3 bucket, and you can use CloudWatch Logs subscription filters or Lambda to process the logs, then create metric filters for specific API calls (e.g., IAM changes) to build a dashboard. This approach scales seamlessly as the organization grows, avoiding the need to manage individual trails or cross-account permissions.

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.

TExam Day Tips

  • 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 media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.

What to study next

Got this wrong? Here's your next step.

Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.

Related practice questions

Related SAP-C02 practice-question pages

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this SAP-C02 question test?

Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — This question tests Design Solutions for Organizational Complexity — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Enable an organization trail in CloudTrail in the management account to deliver logs to a central S3 bucket. Use Amazon CloudWatch Logs to process the logs and create a metric filter, then build a dashboard. — Option D is correct because enabling an organization trail in CloudTrail from the management account automatically applies to all accounts in the AWS Organization, delivering logs to a central S3 bucket with minimal per-account configuration. Using CloudWatch Logs with metric filters on that S3 bucket allows the security team to create a central CloudWatch dashboard that monitors API activity across all accounts, satisfying the requirement with the least operational overhead.

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

Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.

Are there clue words in this question I should notice?

Yes — watch for: "least". You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

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Same concept, more angles

1 more ways this is tested on SAP-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 AWS Organizations and wants to establish a central logging solution. They need to collect CloudTrail logs from all accounts and store them in a central S3 bucket in the management account. Which THREE steps are required to achieve this?

medium
  • A.Create an AWS Config rule to monitor CloudTrail configuration.
  • B.Apply a service control policy (SCP) to enforce CloudTrail logging.
  • C.Create a new CloudTrail trail in the management account with organization trail enabled.
  • D.Configure the trail to deliver logs to a central S3 bucket in the management account.
  • E.Enable CloudTrail in each member account individually.

Why C: Option C is correct because enabling organization trail in the management account allows CloudTrail to automatically create a trail that logs events for all accounts in the AWS Organization, eliminating the need to manually enable CloudTrail in each member account. This is the only way to centrally collect CloudTrail logs from all accounts without individual account configuration.

Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026

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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.