Question 1easymultiple choice
Full question →easymultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A SysOps administrator wants to identify Amazon EC2 instances that are underutilized to reduce costs. The administrator needs recommendations for rightsizing instances based on historical CPU and memory usage. Which AWS service provides these recommendations?
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
AWS Cost Explorer
Cost Explorer provides cost and usage data and has rightsizing recommendations based on CloudWatch metrics, but it is less specialized than Compute Optimizer for this specific requirement. Compute Optimizer is the primary service for rightsizing.
B
Distractor review
AWS Trusted Advisor
Trusted Advisor checks for idle instances and other cost optimization opportunities but does not provide detailed rightsizing recommendations based on historical utilization.
C
Best answer
AWS Compute Optimizer
Compute Optimizer uses machine learning to analyze historical utilization (CPU, memory, network) and delivers instance type and size recommendations that reduce costs and improve performance.
D
Distractor review
AWS CloudTrail
CloudTrail logs API calls for auditing and security, not for resource optimization recommendations.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
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?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: AWS Compute Optimizer — AWS Compute Optimizer is designed to analyze historical utilization metrics (such as CPU, memory, and network I/O) and provide actionable recommendations to resize instances for cost savings and performance improvements. AWS Cost Explorer offers cost analysis but not detailed rightsizing based on memory. Trusted Advisor identifies idle instances but does not provide rightsizing recommendations. CloudTrail is for auditing API calls, not cost optimization.
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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