Quick Answer
The correct answer is that the EC2 instance will be recovered using EC2 instance recovery. This is because the CloudWatch alarm action configured for 'HighCPU' is specifically tied to the EC2 instance recovery feature, which automatically restarts the instance on a new healthy host when a status check failure—such as impaired hardware or network connectivity—is detected, preserving the instance ID, private IPs, and Elastic IPs. On the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of CloudWatch alarm actions beyond simple scaling or reboot; a common trap is confusing recovery with a reboot or Auto Scaling action, but recovery is a distinct action that moves the instance to a new host without changing its identity. To remember this, think of the mnemonic "RIP" for Recovery preserves IPs and Instance ID, while a reboot does not change the host.
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 SysOps administrator examines the output of the describe-alarms command for the 'HighCPU' alarm. The alarm is in ALARM state. What action will be taken automatically?
Recover the EC2 instance using EC2 instance recovery.
The alarm action is an EC2 recover action.
Launch a new EC2 instance in an Auto Scaling group.
Why wrong: No Auto Scaling action is specified.
Reboot the EC2 instance.
Why wrong: The action is recover, not reboot.
Send a notification to an SNS topic.
Why wrong: No SNS topic is listed in the alarm actions.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Recover the EC2 instance using EC2 instance recovery.
The 'HighCPU' alarm is in ALARM state, and the question specifies that the alarm is configured with an EC2 instance recovery action. EC2 instance recovery automatically restarts the instance on a new healthy host when a status check failure (such as impaired hardware or network connectivity) is detected, preserving the instance ID, private IP addresses, and Elastic IP addresses. This is a built-in CloudWatch alarm action that triggers recovery, not a reboot or scaling action.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Recover the EC2 instance using EC2 instance recovery.
Why this is correct
The alarm action is an EC2 recover action.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Launch a new EC2 instance in an Auto Scaling group.
Why it's wrong here
No Auto Scaling action is specified.
Reboot the EC2 instance.
Why it's wrong here
The action is recover, not reboot.
Send a notification to an SNS topic.
Why it's wrong here
No SNS topic is listed in the alarm actions.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse EC2 instance recovery (which moves the instance to a new host) with a simple reboot or Auto Scaling replacement, but the question's context of 'HighCPU' alarm and ALARM state implies a status check failure recovery action, not a scaling or notification action.
Detailed technical explanation
EC2 instance recovery works by CloudWatch monitoring the StatusCheckFailed metric (which aggregates both instance status and system status checks). When the alarm triggers, AWS automatically moves the instance to a new healthy host, preserving its instance ID, private IP, Elastic IP, and EBS volumes. This is distinct from a reboot, which only restarts the OS on the same host, and from Auto Scaling, which launches a new instance with a different ID. The recovery action is specified in the alarm's 'AlarmActions' list as an ARN like 'arn:aws:automate:region:ec2:recover'.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation — This question tests Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Recover the EC2 instance using EC2 instance recovery. — The 'HighCPU' alarm is in ALARM state, and the question specifies that the alarm is configured with an EC2 instance recovery action. EC2 instance recovery automatically restarts the instance on a new healthy host when a status check failure (such as impaired hardware or network connectivity) is detected, preserving the instance ID, private IP addresses, and Elastic IP addresses. This is a built-in CloudWatch alarm action that triggers recovery, not a reboot or scaling action.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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