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Question 1,254 of 1,546

Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation →hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

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.

SOA-C02 Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation Practice Question

This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring, logging, and remediation. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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.

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?

Question 1hardmultiple choice

Full question →

A
Create a CloudWatch alarm on the StatusCheckFailed metric and configure an SNS notification to alert the team.
Why wrong: This notifies but does not automate remediation.
B
Use AWS Systems Manager Automation to create a document that runs a script on the instance to fix the issue.
Why wrong: Automation can fix, but for failed status checks, replacement is more reliable.
C
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.
EventBridge can detect failures and Lambda can automate replacement.
D
Configure the Auto Scaling group's health check to use EC2 status checks and set a custom termination policy.
Why wrong: Auto Scaling automatically replaces instances based on health checks, no custom policy needed.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

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.

Option C is correct because 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.

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.

✗
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.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
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.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates often 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.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

Under the hood, EC2 status checks are performed every minute by the hypervisor (system status check) and the guest OS (instance status check). EventBridge uses a default event pattern for EC2 instance state changes, but to specifically match StatusCheckFailed, you must use a custom event pattern filtering on the 'detail-type' of 'EC2 Status Check Failed' or monitor CloudWatch metrics. The Lambda function should use the AWS SDK to call ec2.terminateInstances and then ec2.runInstances, ensuring the new instance is launched in the same subnet and with the same tags and user data as the original.

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.

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this SOA-C02 question test?

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: 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. — Option C is correct because 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.

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.

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

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Same concept, more angles

1 more ways 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: Option A is correct because 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.

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