SAP-C02 Design for New Solutions Practice Question
Network Topology
The above CLI output shows the state of a CloudWatch alarm. The EC2 instance's CPU utilization averaged 85% for the last 10 minutes. What is the alarm state?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse the alarm state with the metric value itself, assuming that a high metric value automatically means ALARM, but they must verify that the threshold and evaluation periods are met; however, in this case, the CLI explicitly shows the state as ALARM, so the answer is straightforward.
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
✓
ALARM
The CLI output indicates that the alarm state is 'ALARM' because the EC2 instance's CPU utilization averaged 85% for the last 10 minutes, which exceeds the alarm threshold (typically set at, for example, 80% for a standard CPU utilization alarm). CloudWatch alarms transition to ALARM when the metric breaches the threshold for the specified evaluation periods, and here the sustained high utilization over the 10-minute window meets that condition.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
OK
Why it's wrong here
Threshold is breached.
- ✓
ALARM
Why this is correct
2 consecutive periods of breaching threshold.
- ✗
INSUFFICIENT_DATA
Why it's wrong here
Sufficient data exists.
- ✗
ERROR
Why it's wrong here
Not a valid state.
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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.