The correct step is to enable detailed monitoring on the EC2 instance to obtain 1-minute CloudWatch metrics. This is essential because the default CloudWatch monitoring provides metrics at 5-minute intervals, which can average out brief but critical CPU spikes. With detailed monitoring, you gain finer-grained data that reveals short-lived bursts of high CPU utilization, allowing you to correlate the exact timing with application logs or processes. On the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of CloudWatch metric resolution and the trade-off between cost and observability. A common trap is to jump to scaling or instance type changes without first gathering higher-resolution data; the exam emphasizes that detailed monitoring is the prerequisite for root cause analysis when network and disk I/O appear normal. Memory tip: think "1-minute metrics catch the micro-spikes" — default 5-minute metrics can hide the burst that causes 100% CPU.
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 SysOps administrator notices that an EC2 instance's CPU utilization has been at 100% for the past hour. The administrator checks CloudWatch metrics and sees no anomalies in network or disk I/O. Which step should the administrator take to investigate further?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Enable detailed monitoring on the EC2 instance to get 1-minute CloudWatch metrics.
Detailed monitoring (1-minute metrics) provides higher-resolution data than the default 5-minute metrics, allowing the administrator to identify short-lived CPU spikes or patterns that might be averaged out in the standard 5-minute interval. Since network and disk I/O appear normal, the issue is likely a process or application consuming CPU, and finer-grained metrics help pinpoint the timing and correlate with specific events or logs.
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.
✗
Install the CloudWatch Logs agent on the instance to capture system logs.
Why it's wrong here
The CloudWatch Logs agent collects logs, not CPU metrics.
✗
Check the EC2 instance's CPU credit balance in CloudWatch.
Why it's wrong here
CPU credits apply only to T2/T3 instances, and the issue is high utilization, not credits.
✗
Stop the EC2 instance and start it again to reset the CPU.
Why it's wrong here
This would not help identify the cause of high CPU.
✓
Enable detailed monitoring on the EC2 instance to get 1-minute CloudWatch metrics.
Why this is correct
Detailed monitoring provides higher-resolution data to diagnose the issue.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume CPU credit balance (Option B) is always the answer for high CPU utilization, but credits only apply to T-series instances, and the question does not specify the instance type, making detailed monitoring the more universally correct first step for investigation.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
CloudWatch metrics are published at a standard 5-minute granularity for EC2 instances, but enabling detailed monitoring forces the CloudWatch agent (or the EC2 hypervisor) to emit metrics every 1 minute. This is crucial for diagnosing CPU-bound issues that last only a few minutes, as the 5-minute average can mask brief 100% spikes. In practice, a common scenario is a cron job or scheduled task that runs for 2-3 minutes, causing intermittent CPU saturation that is invisible in 5-minute data.
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 healthcare organisation deploys an application with a public-facing web tier and a private database tier. The database subnet has no public IP and only accepts connections from the web tier's security group. Questions like this test whether you can design cloud network isolation using VNets/VPCs, subnets, and security group rules.
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: Enable detailed monitoring on the EC2 instance to get 1-minute CloudWatch metrics. — Detailed monitoring (1-minute metrics) provides higher-resolution data than the default 5-minute metrics, allowing the administrator to identify short-lived CPU spikes or patterns that might be averaged out in the standard 5-minute interval. Since network and disk I/O appear normal, the issue is likely a process or application consuming CPU, and finer-grained metrics help pinpoint the timing and correlate with specific events or logs.
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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Question Discussion
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