Question 1hardmultiple choice
Full question →hardmultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company runs a large number of EC2 instances across multiple accounts and regions. The finance team needs to track costs per project and department. Each EC2 instance must be tagged with a ProjectID and Department tag. A SysOps administrator needs to ensure that all newly launched EC2 instances are tagged automatically before they can be used, and that existing untagged instances are retroactively tagged. The tags must be propagated to cost reports in AWS Cost Explorer. Which combination of steps will achieve this with the least operational overhead?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Best answer
Use AWS Config with auto-remediation to tag new instances, and activate the tags as cost allocation tags. For existing instances, run the Tag Editor with a CSV import.
Correct. AWS Config auto-remediation tags non-compliant new instances; Tag Editor bulk-tags existing instances; activation in Billing console propagates tags to cost reports.
B
Distractor review
Create an AWS Lambda function that tags instances at launch via CloudTrail events, and use AWS Budgets to enforce tagging.
Incorrect. AWS Budgets cannot enforce tagging; they only alert on cost. Lambda solution is more complex than Config auto-remediation.
C
Distractor review
Use AWS Cost Categories to automatically group costs based on resource tags.
Incorrect. Cost Categories do not tag resources; they organize costs after tagging exists.
D
Distractor review
Ensure all AMIs used have tags that propagate to instances, and enable cost allocation tags.
Incorrect. AMI tags do not propagate to launched instances; each instance must be tagged individually.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Related practice questions
Related SOA-C02 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A company uses Amazon CloudFront to deliver content to a global audience. The origin is an Application Load Balancer in us-east-1. The SysOps administrator wants to reduce costs by minimizing the number of requests that reach the origin server. Which action should the administrator take?
Question 2
A company runs a batch processing application on Amazon EC2 that runs for 2 hours every night. The workload can tolerate interruptions. Which EC2 purchasing option provides the lowest cost for this use case?
Question 3
A SysOps administrator needs to monitor the CPU utilization of an Amazon RDS DB instance and receive an alarm when CPU utilization exceeds 80% for 5 consecutive minutes. Which AWS service should be used to create this alarm?
Question 4
A company runs a critical web application on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application uses session stickiness (sticky sessions) to maintain user sessions. The SysOps administrator notices that when instances are replaced during a scale-in or failure event, users lose their session data. The administrator needs to preserve session data across instance failures without losing stickiness benefits. What should the administrator do?
Question 5
A company runs a production web application on a single Amazon EC2 instance. The application experiences a predictable and steady workload 24/7. The SysOps administrator wants to minimize compute costs for this instance while ensuring it remains available during the expected workload. Which EC2 purchasing option should the administrator use?
Question 6
A company has a VPC with public and private subnets. The private subnets host application servers that need to make outbound HTTPS connections to the internet. The SysOps administrator must implement a solution that provides outbound internet connectivity while preventing inbound connections from the internet. Additionally, the solution must allow the company to control which domains the application servers can access. Which solution should the administrator implement?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SOA-C02 question test?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use AWS Config with auto-remediation to tag new instances, and activate the tags as cost allocation tags. For existing instances, run the Tag Editor with a CSV import. — AWS Config Managed Rule 'required-tags' can automatically remediate non-compliant resources via AWS Systems Manager Automation documents (e.g., AWSConfigRemediation-RequiredTags). For already running instances, a one-time automated process (e.g., Tag Editor or a script) can be used. The tag propagation to cost reports requires activating the tags in the Billing and Cost Management console via 'Cost Allocation Tags'. AWS Budgets do not enforce tagging; Cost Categories categorize costs but do not enforce tagging; Lambda per-region is more overhead.
What should I do if I get this SOA-C02 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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