SOA-C02 Cost and Performance Optimization Practice Question
A company wants to monitor the performance of its application running on EC2. Which TWO metrics should be monitored to detect performance bottlenecks? (Choose TWO.)
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
✓
CPU Utilization
To detect performance bottlenecks on EC2, you should monitor CPU Utilization (B) and Memory Utilization (E). High CPU utilization indicates CPU-bound issues, while high memory utilization can cause swapping and degrade performance. Network Packets In (A) is a network metric but not typically a direct performance bottleneck indicator. Status Check Failed (C) is for instance health, not performance. Disk Space Utilization (D) is a storage capacity metric, not a performance metric, and is not available by default (requires custom scripts).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Network Packets In
Why it's wrong here
Network Packets In is a CloudWatch metric that tracks the number of packets received by an EC2 instance's network interface. It reflects network traffic volume, not the internal efficiency or responsiveness of the application itself. High packet counts might result from legitimate load or network attacks, and they don't directly indicate application performance bottlenecks. For performance monitoring, you need application-specific or resource-level metrics like latency, CPU, or memory utilization.
- ✓
CPU Utilization
Why this is correct
CPU Utilization is a fundamental performance metric that shows the percentage of allocated EC2 compute capacity being consumed. Prolonged high CPU utilization indicates the application is compute-bound and may be reaching its processing limits, causing higher latency and reduced throughput. CloudWatch provides this metric by default, enabling quick identification of CPU bottlenecks. Setting alarms on CPU Utilization helps trigger scaling actions or performance tuning.
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Status Check Failed
Why it's wrong here
The Status Check Failed metric is an aggregated status of EC2 system and instance checks (e.g., hardware or network connectivity issues). It is a health indicator, not a performance indicator: an instance can pass status checks while experiencing degraded performance. Performance monitoring requires measuring resource saturation and application response times. Relying on status checks alone would miss stealthy performance problems like memory leaks or CPU spikes.
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Disk Space Utilization
Why it's wrong here
Disk Space Utilization is not a native CloudWatch metric for EC2; you must install the CloudWatch agent to send custom metrics. Even when collected, disk space fullness is an availability/capacity concern rather than a direct performance bottleneck, although it can indirectly degrade performance. Performance issues from disk would be better captured by disk I/O metrics like read/write latency or throughput. Moreover, disk space thresholds rarely correlate with application response time effectively.
- ✓
Memory Utilization
Why this is correct
Memory Utilization measures the percentage of system memory in use, which is crucial for detecting memory pressure. When memory is exhausted, the OS swaps to disk, causing severe performance degradation even if CPU is normal. CloudWatch does not natively report memory utilization on EC2; it requires the CloudWatch agent to collect and publish custom metrics. Monitoring memory alongside CPU provides a balanced view of application performance.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SOA-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 SOA-C02 exam.