The correct answers are HealthyHostCount and RequestCount, both under the AWS/ApplicationELB namespace. HealthyHostCount directly reports the number of registered targets that are passing health checks, giving you an exact count of healthy hosts behind the ALB. RequestCount tracks the total number of requests the load balancer receives, and by dividing that value by the metric period, you can calculate the average request count per minute. On the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 exam, this question tests your ability to distinguish between ALB-specific metrics and broader EC2 or Auto Scaling metrics; a common trap is choosing UnHealthyHostCount instead of HealthyHostCount, or confusing RequestCount with the per-target metric. Remember the memory tip: “Healthy hosts count, requests count—two metrics that directly monitor ALB health and load.”
SOA-C02 Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring, logging, and remediation. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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 is creating a monitoring solution for a web application that uses an Application Load Balancer (ALB) and an Auto Scaling group of EC2 instances. The administrator wants to monitor the average request count per minute and the number of healthy hosts. Which TWO CloudWatch metrics should the administrator use? (Choose TWO.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
AWS/ApplicationELB HealthyHostCount
Option B, AWS/ApplicationELB HealthyHostCount, is correct because it directly reports the number of registered instances that are passing health checks, which is exactly what the administrator needs to monitor the number of healthy hosts behind the ALB. Option E, AWS/ApplicationELB RequestCount, is correct because it tracks the total number of requests handled by the ALB, and by dividing by the time period, the administrator can calculate the average request count per minute.
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.
✗
AWS/ApplicationELB Latency
Why it's wrong here
Latency is a metric but not requested for monitoring request count or healthy hosts.
✓
AWS/ApplicationELB HealthyHostCount
Why this is correct
HealthyHostCount indicates the number of healthy registered targets.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
GroupInServiceInstances is an Auto Scaling metric, not directly related to ALB health checks.
✓
AWS/ApplicationELB RequestCount
Why this is correct
RequestCount is the number of requests processed by the ALB.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Auto Scaling group metrics (like GroupInServiceInstances) with ALB health check metrics (HealthyHostCount), not realizing that an instance can be InService but still unhealthy to the ALB if it fails health checks.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The HealthyHostCount metric is emitted per target group and represents the number of targets that are considered healthy based on the ALB's health check configuration (e.g., HTTP 200 responses). The RequestCount metric is also per target group and increments with each HTTP/HTTPS request; to get the average per minute, you can use a CloudWatch math expression or set the period to 60 seconds. A common real-world scenario is when an instance is InService in the Auto Scaling group but fails ALB health checks due to application errors, making HealthyHostCount the accurate metric for actual availability.
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.
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: AWS/ApplicationELB HealthyHostCount — Option B, AWS/ApplicationELB HealthyHostCount, is correct because it directly reports the number of registered instances that are passing health checks, which is exactly what the administrator needs to monitor the number of healthy hosts behind the ALB. Option E, AWS/ApplicationELB RequestCount, is correct because it tracks the total number of requests handled by the ALB, and by dividing by the time period, the administrator can calculate the average request count per minute.
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.
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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