SOA-C02 AWS Compute Optimizer Practice Question
A SysOps administrator manages a fleet of Amazon EC2 instances. The administrator needs to identify underutilized instances and receive recommendations for instance type changes to reduce costs. Which AWS service should be used to provide these rightsizing recommendations?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse AWS Compute Optimizer with AWS Trusted Advisor, because both offer cost optimization checks, but Compute Optimizer is the only service that provides detailed, ML-driven rightsizing recommendations for EC2 instance types based on historical utilization data.
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
✓
AWS Compute Optimizer
AWS Compute Optimizer is the correct service because it uses machine learning to analyze historical utilization metrics (CPU, memory, network, and storage) of EC2 instances and generates rightsizing recommendations, including instance type changes, to reduce costs and improve performance. It directly addresses the need to identify underutilized instances and provide actionable recommendations for cost optimization.
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 Cost Explorer
Why it's wrong here
AWS Cost Explorer is a cost management tool that visualizes historical spending and forecasts future costs, but it does not analyze EC2 instance-level utilization metrics such as CPU, memory, or network I/O to recommend specific instance type changes. It relies on cost allocation tags and usage data, so while it can show you which instances are expensive, it lacks the machine-learning-driven rightsizing insights needed to identify optimal instance family or size. Therefore, it is not the service designed to provide actionable rightsizing recommendations.
- ✗
AWS Trusted Advisor
Why it's wrong here
AWS Trusted Advisor includes a cost optimization check that flags idle instances and underutilized Amazon EBS volumes, but its EC2 checks are coarse — they generally look for very low CPU utilization (e.g., less than 2%) and low network I/O over a 4-day period. It does not evaluate memory utilization, nor does it provide a specific recommended instance type or size based on your workload's historical patterns, and it does not estimate the performance impact of changing instance types. This makes it less precise than a dedicated rightsizing service, so it is not the best answer.
- ✓
AWS Compute Optimizer
Why this is correct
AWS Compute Optimizer uses machine learning to analyze historical utilization metrics — including CPU, memory, EBS volume I/O, and network throughput — over a 14-day period and delivers specific recommendations for right-sizing EC2 instances, Auto Scaling groups, and EBS volumes. It provides a projected monthly cost savings estimate and a performance risk score for each recommendation, helping you balance cost and performance. You can also enable enhanced infrastructure metrics for even more precise suggestions, making it the appropriate tool for rightsizing EC2 instances.
- ✗
Amazon CloudWatch Dashboard
Why it's wrong here
Amazon CloudWatch Dashboards are a visualization feature that lets you display metrics from EC2 and other services on a single pane of glass, but they do not generate recommendations or perform any analysis of instance utilization. While you could manually observe CPU or network graphs to infer underutilization, the dashboard itself cannot recommend a different instance type or estimate savings, and it does not use machine learning to identify right-sizing opportunities. It is purely a monitoring and observability tool, not an optimization service, so it is incorrect for this scenario.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
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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.