SOA-C02 Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation Practice Question
A SysOps administrator needs to monitor the disk space usage on an EC2 instance running Windows Server. Which actions are required to collect this metric? (Select TWO.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse the CloudWatch Logs agent with the CloudWatch agent, or assume that EC2 status checks or Performance Monitor can directly send disk metrics to CloudWatch without additional configuration.
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
✓
Create an IAM role with permissions to publish custom metrics and attach it to the instance.
Option E is correct because the CloudWatch agent is the AWS-supported tool that runs on a Windows Server EC2 instance and can be configured (via the wizard or a JSON config file) to collect disk metrics such as LogicalDisk % Free Space and publish them to CloudWatch. Option D is correct because the agent needs AWS credentials to call cloudwatch:PutMetricData, and attaching an IAM role with permissions to publish custom metrics to the instance provides those credentials without hardcoding keys. Option A is wrong because the CloudWatch Logs agent ships log files, not disk-space metrics, so it cannot collect this metric. Option B is wrong because EC2 status checks report instance and system reachability (hypervisor and network level), not guest OS disk space. Option C is wrong because Windows Performance Monitor alone does not send data to CloudWatch; you still need the CloudWatch agent to publish those counters as metrics.
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 the CloudWatch Logs agent to monitor disk usage logs.
Why it's wrong here
The CloudWatch Logs agent ships log files, not performance counters; disk space is a metric requiring the CloudWatch agent's metric collection. It is tempting because the Logs agent is commonly installed on EC2 for centralised logging, and would be correct when the requirement is aggregating application or OS log events into CloudWatch Logs.
- ✗
Enable EC2 status checks to monitor disk health.
Why it's wrong here
EC2 status checks report hypervisor-level instance and system reachability, not guest filesystem free space, so they cannot surface disk usage. It is tempting because status checks are the default EC2 health mechanism, and would be the right choice for detecting impaired underlying hardware or failed system-level checks rather than capacity.
- ✗
Use Windows Performance Monitor to track disk space and send to CloudWatch.
Why it's wrong here
The CloudWatch agent, not Performance Monitor, is required to publish Windows guest metrics such as disk space to CloudWatch; Performance Monitor alone cannot send data to CloudWatch. It is tempting because Performance Monitor natively tracks Windows logical disk counters, which would be correct for local on-host monitoring without CloudWatch integration.
- ✓
Create an IAM role with permissions to publish custom metrics and attach it to the instance.
Why this is correct
Custom metrics require authorisation to call the CloudWatch PutMetricData API. Attaching an IAM role with cloudwatch:PutMetricData to the instance supplies temporary credentials via instance metadata, satisfying the permissions constraint so the agent can publish disk space data without hard-coded keys.
- ✓
Install the CloudWatch agent on the instance and configure it to collect disk metrics.
Why this is correct
Windows does not expose disk space to CloudWatch by default; only hypervisor-level metrics are automatic. The CloudWatch agent runs inside the OS, reads logical disk counters, and publishes them as custom metrics, which is the mechanism that actually satisfies the requirement to collect disk usage.
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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.