Automate EC2 Status Check Failure Remediation with EventBridge and Lambda
A company has a production environment with multiple EC2 instances running a web application. The SysOps administrator wants to automate the remediation of instances that fail the EC2 status check. Which approach should the administrator use?
Quick Answer
The correct approach is to create an Amazon EventBridge rule that matches EC2 status check failures and triggers an AWS Lambda function to terminate the unhealthy instance and launch a new one. This solution is correct because it establishes a fully automated, event-driven remediation workflow: EventBridge detects the state change when an instance fails a status check, then invokes Lambda to handle the termination and replacement without any manual intervention. On the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 exam, this question tests your ability to design automated incident response using AWS-native services, often appearing as a scenario where you must choose between CloudWatch alarms, Auto Scaling, or EventBridge—the common trap is selecting a CloudWatch alarm alone, which only notifies but does not remediate. Remember the memory tip: “EventBridge triggers, Lambda fixes”—if the goal is to automate remediation of EC2 status check failures, always look for the combination of EventBridge for detection and Lambda for action.
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently choose Option A (SNS alerting) because they think notification is sufficient, but the question explicitly asks for 'automate the remediation,' which requires an action beyond alerting.
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 Amazon EventBridge rule that matches EC2 status check failures and triggers an AWS Lambda function to terminate the instance and launch a new one.
It provides a fully automated, event-driven remediation workflow. When an EC2 instance fails a status check, an EventBridge rule detects the state change and triggers a Lambda function that terminates the unhealthy instance and launches a replacement. This approach directly addresses the requirement to automate remediation without manual intervention.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create a CloudWatch alarm on the StatusCheckFailed metric and configure an SNS notification to alert the team.
Why it's wrong here
This notifies but does not automate remediation.
- ✗
Use AWS Systems Manager Automation to create a document that runs a script on the instance to fix the issue.
Why it's wrong here
Automation can fix, but for failed status checks, replacement is more reliable.
- ✓
Create an Amazon EventBridge rule that matches EC2 status check failures and triggers an AWS Lambda function to terminate the instance and launch a new one.
Why this is correct
EventBridge can detect failures and Lambda can automate replacement.
- ✗
Configure the Auto Scaling group's health check to use EC2 status checks and set a custom termination policy.
Why it's wrong here
Auto Scaling automatically replaces instances based on health checks, no custom policy needed.
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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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on SOA-C02
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company has a fleet of EC2 instances that are part of an Auto Scaling group. The SysOps team wants to automatically replace any instance that fails the status check for 2 consecutive minutes. Which configuration should be used?
medium- ✓ A.Configure an EC2 Auto Scaling group to use EC2 status checks and set the health check grace period to 2 minutes.
- B.Use AWS Systems Manager Automation to run a script that reboots the instance.
- C.Configure an Amazon EventBridge rule to trigger an AWS Lambda function that terminates the instance.
- D.Configure a CloudWatch Alarm on StatusCheckFailed metric to reboot the instance.
Why A: An Auto Scaling group can use EC2 status checks to determine instance health. By setting the health check grace period to 2 minutes, the Auto Scaling group will wait 2 minutes after an instance enters the InService state before starting health checks, and then if the instance fails status checks for 2 consecutive minutes, the Auto Scaling group will mark it as unhealthy and automatically terminate and replace it.
JA
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.