SOA-C02 Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring, logging, and remediation. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 investigating a performance issue with an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL instance. The administrator has enabled Performance Insights. Which TWO metrics from Performance Insights can help identify the root cause of a sudden increase in database load? (Choose TWO.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
DB Load by Wait Events.
Performance Insights measures database load in units of Average Active Sessions (AAS). The 'DB Load by Wait Events' metric breaks down this load by the specific wait events (e.g., I/O, locks, CPU) that are causing sessions to wait, directly pinpointing the bottleneck. This is the primary diagnostic view for identifying the root cause of a sudden load increase.
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.
✗
Read IOPS and Write IOPS.
Why it's wrong here
IOPS metrics are available but do not directly show query-level load.
✗
Average Active Sessions.
Why it's wrong here
Average Active Sessions is a summary metric, not a breakdown.
✓
DB Load by Wait Events.
Why this is correct
This shows the distribution of load across different wait events, helping pinpoint the type of contention.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
CPUUtilization percentage.
Why it's wrong here
CPUUtilization is a high-level metric, not a breakdown.
✓
Top SQL queries by DB Load.
Why this is correct
This identifies the specific queries contributing the most to load.
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 confuse 'Average Active Sessions' (the overall load metric) with 'DB Load by Wait Events' (the breakdown), or they mistakenly think raw I/O metrics like IOPS are sufficient to diagnose database-level contention, when in fact wait event analysis is required to isolate the specific resource bottleneck.
Trap categories for this question
Command / output trap
IOPS metrics are available but do not directly show query-level load.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Performance Insights aggregates wait events into categories such as 'CPU', 'IO:DataFileRead', 'LWLock:buffer_content', and 'Client:ClientRead'. The 'DB Load by Wait Events' chart shows the AAS over time, color-coded by these wait classes, allowing you to see if the load increase is due to a specific resource (e.g., a sudden surge in 'IO:DataFileRead' indicates a missing index or full table scan). In PostgreSQL, common high-load scenarios include 'LWLock:buffer_content' contention from hot row updates or 'Client:ClientRead' from slow application consumption of result sets.
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: DB Load by Wait Events. — Performance Insights measures database load in units of Average Active Sessions (AAS). The 'DB Load by Wait Events' metric breaks down this load by the specific wait events (e.g., I/O, locks, CPU) that are causing sessions to wait, directly pinpointing the bottleneck. This is the primary diagnostic view for identifying the root cause of a sudden load increase.
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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