The answer is AWS CloudTrail, Amazon CloudWatch Logs, and Amazon EventBridge. CloudTrail serves as the foundational service that logs all API calls across your AWS account, capturing every action as an event record. These logs are then streamed into CloudWatch Logs for centralized storage and monitoring, where you can set up metric filters to detect specific API calls. EventBridge then takes over by evaluating those filtered events against custom rules—for example, matching a specific API call like DeleteTrail—and triggering an action such as sending a notification through Amazon SNS. On the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Associate SOA-C02 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of the logging and alerting pipeline, often appearing as a multi-service integration question. A common trap is to confuse CloudTrail with CloudWatch Logs for the alerting step, but remember: CloudTrail logs, CloudWatch stores and filters, EventBridge alerts. Memory tip: "Trail logs, Watch filters, Bridge alerts."
SOA-C02 Monitoring, Logging, and Remediation Practice Question
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of monitoring, logging, and remediation. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 needs to ensure that all API calls in the AWS account are logged for auditing purposes. The administrator also wants to receive notifications when specific API calls are made. Which THREE services should the administrator use together to achieve this? (Choose THREE.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Amazon EventBridge
AWS CloudTrail (Option E) is the primary service for logging all API calls in an AWS account, capturing detailed event records. Amazon CloudWatch Logs (Option D) can receive these CloudTrail events for centralized log storage and monitoring. Amazon EventBridge (Option A) can then be used to create rules that match specific API calls and trigger notifications, such as sending messages to an SNS topic, enabling real-time alerting.
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.
✓
Amazon EventBridge
Why this is correct
EventBridge can filter CloudTrail events and trigger actions like SNS notifications.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
Config evaluates resource configurations, not API calls.
✗
Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)
Why it's wrong here
SNS is a notification service, but it is not used to log or monitor API calls directly.
✓
Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Why this is correct
CloudWatch Logs can aggregate CloudTrail logs and set up metric filters.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
AWS CloudTrail
Why this is correct
CloudTrail records API calls for auditing.
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 often confuse AWS Config with CloudTrail, thinking Config logs API calls, when in fact Config only tracks configuration changes and compliance, not the API calls that caused those changes.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
CloudTrail delivers events to CloudWatch Logs via a CloudTrail trail configuration, where log group retention and metric filters can be applied. EventBridge uses event patterns to match CloudTrail API call events (e.g., 'source': ['aws.ec2'], 'detail.eventName': ['RunInstances']) and routes them to targets like SNS topics. This architecture decouples logging from alerting, allowing granular filtering without modifying the trail itself.
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 media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
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: Amazon EventBridge — AWS CloudTrail (Option E) is the primary service for logging all API calls in an AWS account, capturing detailed event records. Amazon CloudWatch Logs (Option D) can receive these CloudTrail events for centralized log storage and monitoring. Amazon EventBridge (Option A) can then be used to create rules that match specific API calls and trigger notifications, such as sending messages to an SNS topic, enabling real-time alerting.
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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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.
Question Discussion
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