- A
Amazon CloudWatch Alarms with Amazon SNS.
Alarms send notifications via SNS when thresholds are breached.
- B
AWS Config.
Why wrong: Config evaluates resource configurations.
- C
Amazon CloudWatch Logs.
Why wrong: CloudWatch Logs is for monitoring log files.
- D
AWS CloudTrail.
Why wrong: CloudTrail records API calls.
Question 1,145 of 1,733
PAS-C01 Technology Practice Question
This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of technology. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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.
An SAP environment uses Amazon CloudWatch to monitor EC2 instances. The operations team wants to receive a notification when the CPU utilization exceeds 90% for 5 consecutive minutes. Which AWS service should they use?
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 CloudWatch Alarms with Amazon SNS.
Amazon CloudWatch Alarms can monitor a metric (like CPUUtilization) and trigger an action when the metric crosses a defined threshold for a specified number of consecutive evaluation periods. By setting the alarm to evaluate CPU utilization > 90% for 5 consecutive minutes (e.g., 5 periods of 1 minute each) and configuring the alarm action to publish to an Amazon SNS topic, the operations team receives a notification directly. This is the native, serverless way to react to CloudWatch metrics without additional infrastructure.
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.
- ✓
Amazon CloudWatch Alarms with Amazon SNS.
Why this is correct
Alarms send notifications via SNS when thresholds are breached.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
AWS Config.
Why it's wrong here
Config evaluates resource configurations.
- ✗
Amazon CloudWatch Logs.
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch Logs is for monitoring log files.
- ✗
AWS CloudTrail.
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail records API calls.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse AWS Config (configuration compliance) or CloudTrail (API auditing) with real-time metric monitoring, or they think CloudWatch Logs can directly alert on CPU metrics, but only CloudWatch Alarms with SNS provide the precise threshold-based notification for CloudWatch metrics.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, a CloudWatch Alarm transitions through states (OK, ALARM, INSUFFICIENT_DATA) based on the metric's value over a number of evaluation periods. The '5 consecutive minutes' requirement is implemented by setting the 'Period' to 60 seconds and 'Evaluation Periods' to 5, with 'Datapoints to Alarm' also set to 5. A real-world scenario where this matters is when an SAP HANA instance experiences a memory or CPU spike due to a sudden batch job; the alarm can trigger an SNS notification to a pager or email, allowing the team to scale up or investigate before the instance becomes unresponsive.
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 cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
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 |
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.
- →
Technology — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
- →
Technology practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
- →
All PAS-C01 questions
1,733 questions across all exam domains
- →
AWS Certified SAP on AWS Specialty PAS-C01 study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
- →
PAS-C01 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Related PAS-C01 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
Design of SAP Workloads on AWS practice questions
Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to Design of SAP Workloads on AWS.
Technology practice questions
Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to Technology.
Migration practice questions
Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to Migration.
Operations and Maintenance practice questions
Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to Operations and Maintenance.
PAS-C01 fundamentals practice questions
Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to PAS-C01 fundamentals.
PAS-C01 scenario practice questions
Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to PAS-C01 scenario.
PAS-C01 troubleshooting practice questions
Practise PAS-C01 questions linked to PAS-C01 troubleshooting.
Practice this exam
Start a free PAS-C01 practice session
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PAS-C01 question test?
Technology — This question tests Technology — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Amazon CloudWatch Alarms with Amazon SNS. — Amazon CloudWatch Alarms can monitor a metric (like CPUUtilization) and trigger an action when the metric crosses a defined threshold for a specified number of consecutive evaluation periods. By setting the alarm to evaluate CPU utilization > 90% for 5 consecutive minutes (e.g., 5 periods of 1 minute each) and configuring the alarm action to publish to an Amazon SNS topic, the operations team receives a notification directly. This is the native, serverless way to react to CloudWatch metrics without additional infrastructure.
What should I do if I get this PAS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Keep practising
More PAS-C01 practice questions
- A company runs SAP S/4HANA on AWS. The environment includes an SAP HANA database on an EC2 instance with multiple EBS vo…
- A company runs SAP S/4HANA on AWS with a High Availability (HA) cluster spanning two Availability Zones (us-east-1a and…
- A company is planning to migrate its SAP landscape to AWS. The landscape includes development, quality assurance, and pr…
- A company is using AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager to patch a fleet of EC2 instances. The instances are in a patch gro…
- A company is migrating a legacy on-premises application to AWS. The application uses a MySQL database with a complex sto…
- A company is migrating a large SAP ERP system to AWS using SAP HANA. They want to minimize downtime and ensure consisten…
Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
This PAS-C01 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 PAS-C01 exam.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.