SOA-C02 Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring, logging, and remediation. Examine the command output carefully: the correct answer depends on what the output actually shows, not on general recall alone. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
An application running on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB) is experiencing intermittent 5xx errors. CloudWatch metrics show that the ALB's 'HTTPCode_ELB_5XX_Count' is elevated. What is the MOST likely cause?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The load balancer is timing out waiting for a response from the target.
When the ALB's 'HTTPCode_ELB_5XX_Count' is elevated, it indicates that the load balancer itself is generating the 5xx error, not the target. The most common cause is that the load balancer is timing out while waiting for a response from the target instances, which occurs when the target takes longer than the configured idle timeout (default 60 seconds) to respond. This results in the ALB returning a 504 Gateway Timeout error, which is counted in the ELB 5xx metric.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
The target instances are returning HTTP 503 errors.
Why it's wrong here
Target 5xx errors appear in a different metric (HTTPCode_Target_5XX_Count).
✗
The target instances have high latency but are still responding.
Why it's wrong here
High latency may cause timeouts, but the error code would still be ELB 5xx if the load balancer times out.
✓
The load balancer is timing out waiting for a response from the target.
Why this is correct
ELB generates 5xx errors when it cannot establish a connection or the target fails to respond within the idle timeout.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Client requests are malformed and being rejected by the load balancer.
Why it's wrong here
Malformed requests typically result in 400 errors.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse 'HTTPCode_ELB_5XX_Count' (errors generated by the load balancer) with 'HTTPCode_Target_5XX_Count' (errors generated by the target), leading them to incorrectly assume the target is returning 5xx errors when the actual issue is a load balancer timeout.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The ALB's idle timeout is configurable (default 60 seconds) and governs how long the load balancer waits for a response from the target after forwarding a request. If the target does not respond within this timeout, the ALB closes the connection and sends a 504 Gateway Timeout to the client. This is distinct from the target's own response timeout; for example, a long-running database query or a slow application startup can trigger this. In real-world scenarios, this often occurs during cold starts of Lambda-backed targets or when targets are overwhelmed and cannot process requests quickly enough.
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.
TExam Day Tips
→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.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation — This question tests Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The load balancer is timing out waiting for a response from the target. — When the ALB's 'HTTPCode_ELB_5XX_Count' is elevated, it indicates that the load balancer itself is generating the 5xx error, not the target. The most common cause is that the load balancer is timing out while waiting for a response from the target instances, which occurs when the target takes longer than the configured idle timeout (default 60 seconds) to respond. This results in the ALB returning a 504 Gateway Timeout error, which is counted in the ELB 5xx metric.
What should I do if I get this SOA-C02 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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