SOA-C02 Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation Practice Question
A SysOps administrator needs to ensure that all S3 buckets in the account have server access logging enabled. The administrator wants to be notified if a bucket is created without logging. What is the most efficient solution?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse event-driven detection (CloudWatch Events or S3 event notifications) with continuous compliance evaluation, mistakenly believing that a single trigger at creation time is sufficient to meet the requirement of being notified if a bucket is created without logging.
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
✓
Use AWS Config with a managed rule to evaluate S3 buckets for server access logging.
AWS Config with the managed rule 's3-bucket-server-access-logging-enabled' continuously evaluates all S3 buckets against the desired configuration. When a bucket is created without server access logging, AWS Config automatically flags it as noncompliant and can trigger an SNS notification. This is the most efficient solution because it provides ongoing, automated compliance monitoring without requiring custom scripts or event-driven remediation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Periodically run a script to list all buckets and check logging configuration.
Why it's wrong here
A periodic script that lists all buckets and checks logging configuration is a manual, point-in-time approach. It only detects non-compliance when you run it, allowing configuration drift to go unnoticed between runs. It also lacks automated alerting or remediation, and does not provide an auditable, continuous compliance record.
- ✗
Enable S3 event notifications on the bucket creation event and trigger a Lambda function.
Why it's wrong here
S3 event notifications are designed for object-level events such as s3:ObjectCreated:* or s3:ObjectRemoved:*; they do not trigger on bucket configuration changes like enabling or disabling server access logging. Even if you created a notification for the bucket creation event, that event is not emitted as an S3 event notification. AWS Config, by contrast, continuously evaluates the actual configuration state of existing buckets.
- ✗
Use CloudWatch Events to detect CreateBucket API calls and trigger a Lambda function.
Why it's wrong here
CloudWatch Events (now Amazon EventBridge) can detect CreateBucket API calls, but this only captures the moment a bucket is created. It does not monitor subsequent changes to the bucket's logging configuration—such as disabling a logging policy—so you would need additional rules for every logging-related API. It also requires you to build custom Lambda logic and lacks the built-in compliance evaluation and reporting that AWS Config provides.
- ✓
Use AWS Config with a managed rule to evaluate S3 buckets for server access logging.
Why this is correct
AWS Config's managed rule for S3 server access logging continuously evaluates each bucket against the required logging configuration. When a bucket becomes non-compliant—whether created incorrectly or later misconfigured—AWS Config records the configuration change and can trigger notifications via SNS. This provides a real-time, auditable, and automated compliance check, exactly what an administrator needs for ongoing governance.
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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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.