Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A SysOps administrator needs to monitor AWS CloudTrail logs for any calls to the 'CreateUser' API in AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). When such an API call is detected, the administrator wants to receive a notification within a few minutes and also log the event to a central log group in Amazon CloudWatch Logs. The solution should use minimal custom code. Which combination of services should be used?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Distractor review
Configure AWS CloudTrail to deliver logs to Amazon CloudWatch Logs, create a metric filter for the 'CreateUser' API call, and set up a CloudWatch alarm that sends an Amazon SNS notification.
This method works, but it requires manual creation of a metric filter and alarm. It also ingests all CloudTrail logs into CloudWatch Logs, which can increase costs. A more efficient approach is to use Amazon EventBridge.
B
Best answer
Use AWS CloudTrail with Amazon EventBridge by creating an event rule that matches the 'CreateUser' API call via the 'aws.cloudtrail' event source, and set the targets to an Amazon SNS topic and a CloudWatch Logs log group.
Amazon EventBridge natively listens for AWS service events, including CloudTrail API calls. By creating a rule with a custom event pattern that matches the specific API call, you can directly send the event to multiple targets (SNS, CloudWatch Logs, Lambda, etc.) without needing metric filters or alarms. This is the recommended low-overhead solution.
C
Distractor review
Write an AWS Lambda function that is triggered by Amazon S3 events when a new CloudTrail log is delivered to S3. The Lambda parses the log file for 'CreateUser' and if found, sends an SNS notification.
This approach involves custom code (Lambda) and is more complex. It also relies on periodic log delivery to S3, which may introduce delays. It is not the least overhead option.
D
Distractor review
Enable AWS Config and create a custom rule that evaluates CloudTrail trail configurations for events.
AWS Config is for evaluating configuration of AWS resources, not for real-time monitoring of API calls. It cannot directly detect specific API calls like 'CreateUser'.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Related practice questions
Related SOA-C02 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A company uses Amazon CloudFront to deliver content to a global audience. The origin is an Application Load Balancer in us-east-1. The SysOps administrator wants to reduce costs by minimizing the number of requests that reach the origin server. Which action should the administrator take?
Question 2
A company runs a batch processing application on Amazon EC2 that runs for 2 hours every night. The workload can tolerate interruptions. Which EC2 purchasing option provides the lowest cost for this use case?
Question 3
A SysOps administrator needs to monitor the CPU utilization of an Amazon RDS DB instance and receive an alarm when CPU utilization exceeds 80% for 5 consecutive minutes. Which AWS service should be used to create this alarm?
Question 4
A company runs a critical web application on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application uses session stickiness (sticky sessions) to maintain user sessions. The SysOps administrator notices that when instances are replaced during a scale-in or failure event, users lose their session data. The administrator needs to preserve session data across instance failures without losing stickiness benefits. What should the administrator do?
Question 5
A company runs a production web application on a single Amazon EC2 instance. The application experiences a predictable and steady workload 24/7. The SysOps administrator wants to minimize compute costs for this instance while ensuring it remains available during the expected workload. Which EC2 purchasing option should the administrator use?
Question 6
A company has a VPC with public and private subnets. The private subnets host application servers that need to make outbound HTTPS connections to the internet. The SysOps administrator must implement a solution that provides outbound internet connectivity while preventing inbound connections from the internet. Additionally, the solution must allow the company to control which domains the application servers can access. Which solution should the administrator implement?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SOA-C02 question test?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use AWS CloudTrail with Amazon EventBridge by creating an event rule that matches the 'CreateUser' API call via the 'aws.cloudtrail' event source, and set the targets to an Amazon SNS topic and a CloudWatch Logs log group. — CloudTrail logs can be delivered to CloudWatch Logs via a CloudTrail trail. Then a CloudWatch Logs metric filter can be created to look for specific event names (like 'CreateUser') and set a corresponding alarm that publishes to an SNS topic. This is a serverless, low-overhead solution. Alternatively, you can use EventBridge with a custom event pattern to match specific API calls from CloudTrail, which is even simpler and doesn't require metric filters. EventBridge can directly route CloudTrail events to SNS and CloudWatch Logs. So the best answer is to use CloudTrail with EventBridge. Option A: CloudTrail to CloudWatch Logs with metric filter and alarm. That works but involves more steps. Option B: CloudTrail with EventBridge is more modern and easier. Option C: Using Lambda to parse CloudTrail logs from S3 would require custom code. Option D: AWS Config does not capture API calls. The correct answer is to use CloudTrail in combination with Amazon EventBridge to create a rule that matches the desired API call and then trigger an SNS topic and also stream to CloudWatch Logs using a CloudWatch Logs group as a target. So the best answer should mention EventBridge.
What should I do if I get this SOA-C02 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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