SOA-C02 Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation Practice Question
A SysOps administrator needs to centrally collect operating system-level metrics from a fleet of Amazon EC2 instances running Amazon Linux 2. The metrics should include memory usage and disk I/O. Which solution should the administrator implement?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse 'detailed monitoring' (which only increases frequency of existing hypervisor metrics) with the ability to collect new OS-level metrics, leading them to incorrectly select Option B.
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
✓
Install and configure the CloudWatch agent on the EC2 instances.
The CloudWatch agent is the correct solution because it can collect custom OS-level metrics such as memory usage and disk I/O from EC2 instances running Amazon Linux 2. Unlike the default CloudWatch metrics, which only capture hypervisor-level metrics (e.g., CPU, network), the CloudWatch agent uses the procstat and disk plugins to gather detailed system metrics and publish them to CloudWatch as custom namespaces.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Install and configure the CloudWatch agent on the EC2 instances.
Why this is correct
The CloudWatch agent is required to collect in-guest operating system metrics such as memory utilization, disk I/O counters, and process-level resource usage. It runs inside the EC2 instance, reads from the OS, and publishes these as custom metrics to CloudWatch, enabling centralized monitoring via dashboards and alarms. Unlike basic or detailed monitoring, which only capture hypervisor-visible measurements, the agent has direct access to OS performance counters.
- ✗
Enable detailed monitoring on the EC2 instances.
Why it's wrong here
Enabling detailed monitoring only changes the frequency of the predefined EC2 metrics—such as CPUUtilization, NetworkIn, and DiskReadOps—from a 5-minute default to a 1-minute interval. These metrics are measured by the hypervisor, not the operating system, so they cannot expose memory usage, memory pressure, page faults, or OS-level disk I/O details. Therefore, this action alone does not satisfy the need to centrally collect operating system-level metrics.
- ✗
Use AWS CloudTrail to log OS-level metrics.
Why it's wrong here
AWS CloudTrail records API activity, management events, and occasionally data events for specific services, but it is entirely unrelated to operating system performance telemetry. It logs who did what in your AWS account, such as EC2 RunInstances or S3 PUT actions, and is intended for auditing and security analysis. CloudTrail cannot read or report memory utilization, disk I/O, or processor loads from inside an EC2 instance.
- ✗
Use AWS Systems Manager Inventory to collect metrics.
Why it's wrong here
AWS Systems Manager Inventory is designed to collect metadata about your instances—such as installed applications, Windows updates, network configuration, and running services—for asset management and compliance. It does not collect real-time performance metrics like memory utilization or disk I/O throughput. While Systems Manager can help with Patch Manager and Run Command, it does not provide the streaming metric data that the CloudWatch agent provides.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
One of 1,169 original SOA-C02 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.