SAP-C02 Continuous Improvement for Existing Solutions Practice Question
Network Topology
A solutions architect sees the above CloudWatch metric data for a Lambda function. The function is triggered by an SQS queue. The errors occur in a pattern: exactly 5 errors at 00:10, 00:30, and 00:50. What is the MOST likely 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
✓
The Lambda function is timing out due to long-running processing, and the SQS visibility timeout is set to 20 minutes, causing the same messages to be retried.
The pattern of errors occurring exactly at 00:10, 00:30, and 00:50 (20-minute intervals) indicates that the Lambda function is timing out after processing for a long duration, and the SQS visibility timeout is set to 20 minutes. When the function times out, the message becomes visible again in the queue after the visibility timeout, leading to a retry. This results in errors at regular intervals. Option A is incorrect because memory exhaustion would cause out-of-memory errors, not timeouts. Option C is incorrect because hitting reserved concurrency would cause throttles (e.g., 429 errors), not function errors. Option D is incorrect because an incompatible runtime would cause all invocations to fail immediately, not in a pattern.
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 Lambda function is running out of memory.
Why it's wrong here
Would cause out-of-memory errors, not timeouts.
- ✓
The Lambda function is timing out due to long-running processing, and the SQS visibility timeout is set to 20 minutes, causing the same messages to be retried.
Why this is correct
The pattern matches a timeout and retry cycle.
- ✗
The Lambda function is hitting the reserved concurrency limit.
Why it's wrong here
Would cause throttling, not errors.
- ✗
The Lambda function is using an incompatible runtime.
Why it's wrong here
Would cause all invocations to fail.
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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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.