SOA-C02 Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation Practice Question
A SysOps administrator notices that an RDS instance's CPU utilization is consistently above 80% during peak hours. The administrator wants to set up automated actions to scale the database and also notify the team. What should the administrator do?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse RDS Auto Scaling (which only handles storage) with compute scaling, or they mistakenly think RDS can be added to an Auto Scaling group like EC2 instances, leading them to choose option B or D.
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 a CloudWatch alarm on CPU utilization that triggers a Lambda function to modify the RDS instance class to a larger size.
It uses a CloudWatch alarm on CPU utilization to trigger a Lambda function, which can programmatically call the ModifyDBInstance API to scale the RDS instance class up during peak hours. This provides automated, event-driven scaling based on actual utilization, and the same alarm can be configured to send an SNS notification to the team. This approach is flexible and allows custom logic in Lambda, such as checking current metrics before scaling.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure a scheduled scaling action to change the instance class during peak hours.
Why it's wrong here
Scheduled scaling actions are native to EC2 Auto Scaling and Application Auto Scaling targets like DynamoDB, but RDS instances do not have a built-in scheduled compute scaling feature. Scheduling an instance class change assumes predictable peak periods, so it cannot adapt to variable workloads or sudden CPU spikes. Additionally, modifying the DB instance class typically requires a reboot, which can cause downtime and is not a reactive solution to the observed CPU utilization.
- ✗
Add the RDS instance to an Auto Scaling group.
Why it's wrong here
Auto Scaling groups are designed to manage fleets of EC2 instances, not managed database services. An RDS instance is a fully managed service with no API to register it as a member of an Auto Scaling group, and the group cannot modify the RDS instance class. Therefore, adding an RDS instance to an Auto Scaling group is not a valid operation and would have no effect on CPU utilization.
- ✓
Create a CloudWatch alarm on CPU utilization that triggers a Lambda function to modify the RDS instance class to a larger size.
Why this is correct
A CloudWatch alarm on CPU utilization can trigger a Lambda function that calls ModifyDBInstance to change the DB instance class to a larger size, such as moving from db.m5.large to db.m5.xlarge. This is an event-driven automation that scales compute reactively based on the actual load. Keep in mind that changing the instance class requires a reboot, but with Multi-AZ or maintenance window settings you can minimize downtime; this pattern directly resolves the CPU bottleneck.
- ✗
Enable RDS Auto Scaling for the instance.
Why it's wrong here
RDS Auto Scaling, also called storage auto scaling, automatically increases the allocated storage for a DB instance when free space is low based on the free storage space metric. It does not adjust the DB instance class or CPU capacity, so it cannot reduce a CPU utilization issue. Enabling RDS Auto Scaling would leave the CPU-intensive workload unchanged and fail to address the performance problem.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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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.