SOA-C02 Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring, logging, and remediation. 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 runs a critical web application on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The SysOps administrator needs to be notified if the ALB's error rate exceeds 5% for 5 consecutive minutes. Which solution meets this requirement 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.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use a CloudWatch alarm on the ALB's 'HTTPCode_ELB_5XX_Count' metric with a math expression to calculate error rate.
Option B is correct because CloudWatch can directly monitor the ALB's 'HTTPCode_ELB_5XX_Count' metric and combine it with the 'RequestCount' metric using a math expression to calculate the error rate as a percentage. This approach requires no additional logging or external services, and a CloudWatch alarm can be configured to trigger an SNS notification when the error rate exceeds 5% for 5 consecutive minutes, minimizing 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.
✗
Enable VPC Flow Logs and analyze them with Amazon Athena to detect error rates.
Why it's wrong here
VPC Flow Logs capture network flows, not HTTP status codes.
✓
Use a CloudWatch alarm on the ALB's 'HTTPCode_ELB_5XX_Count' metric with a math expression to calculate error rate.
Why this is correct
CloudWatch can directly alarm on ALB metrics with math expressions.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "least" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Enable CloudTrail for the ALB and create a metric filter for 5xx errors.
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail logs API calls, not ALB request metrics.
✗
Use AWS Config rules to monitor the ALB configuration and trigger a notification on changes.
Why it's wrong here
Config does not monitor real-time error rates.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may confuse CloudTrail (which logs API activity) with CloudWatch metrics (which track performance data), or assume VPC Flow Logs can provide HTTP-level error codes when they only capture network-layer information.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The ALB publishes CloudWatch metrics such as 'HTTPCode_ELB_5XX_Count' (count of 5xx responses generated by the load balancer itself) and 'RequestCount' (total number of requests). To calculate the error rate, you can use a CloudWatch math expression like 'm1/m2*100' where m1 is the 5xx count and m2 is the request count, then set an alarm on that expression. Note that 'HTTPCode_Target_5XX_Count' tracks errors from backend targets, while 'HTTPCode_ELB_5XX_Count' tracks ALB-generated errors (e.g., 503 due to no healthy targets), so the correct metric depends on which error rate you need to monitor.
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 healthcare organisation deploys an application with a public-facing web tier and a private database tier. The database subnet has no public IP and only accepts connections from the web tier's security group. Questions like this test whether you can design cloud network isolation using VNets/VPCs, subnets, and security group rules.
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.
Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation — This question tests Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use a CloudWatch alarm on the ALB's 'HTTPCode_ELB_5XX_Count' metric with a math expression to calculate error rate. — Option B is correct because CloudWatch can directly monitor the ALB's 'HTTPCode_ELB_5XX_Count' metric and combine it with the 'RequestCount' metric using a math expression to calculate the error rate as a percentage. This approach requires no additional logging or external services, and a CloudWatch alarm can be configured to trigger an SNS notification when the error rate exceeds 5% for 5 consecutive minutes, minimizing operational overhead.
What should I do if I get this SOA-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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Question Discussion
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