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SOA-C02 Practice Question: CloudWatch agent configuration for collecting…
This SOA-C02 practice question tests your understanding of cloudwatch agent configuration for collecting…. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. A key principle to apply: cloudWatch agent configuration. 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.
The monitoring team needs to collect per-process CPU and memory utilization for a specific Java process (named 'app.jar') running on EC2 Linux instances. Standard EC2 metrics show aggregate CPU but not per-process details. Which CloudWatch agent configuration section enables this?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Distractor review
Configure a CloudWatch Logs metric filter on the Java GC log output to derive CPU and memory figures
GC logs record garbage collection events, heap sizes before/after GC, and pause times. They do not contain CPU percent or RSS memory values directly. A metric filter can only count pattern occurrences or extract numeric values from log lines — it cannot generate accurate process-level CPU or memory utilization metrics.
B
Distractor review
Use the aws ec2 describe-instance-status API on a schedule to pull process metrics from the instance's system status checks
EC2 system status checks verify hypervisor-level health (network reachability, power). They have no visibility into running processes or per-process resource usage inside the guest OS.
C
Best answer
Add a procstat section under metrics_collected in the CloudWatch agent config, specifying process_name = 'app.jar' to collect per-process CPU and memory
The procstat plugin uses the Linux /proc filesystem to sample per-process resource usage. With process_name set to 'app.jar', the agent matches the running JVM process and publishes metrics like procstat_cpu_usage and procstat_memory_rss to CloudWatch every collection interval. These metrics carry instance ID and process name dimensions.
D
Distractor review
Enable enhanced monitoring on the EC2 instance and select 'per-process metrics' from the console
There is no per-process metrics option in the EC2 enhanced monitoring console. Enhanced monitoring for EC2 refers to the 1-minute detailed monitoring frequency, which affects only the standard EC2 metrics. Per-process collection requires the CloudWatch agent's procstat plugin.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
Treat this as a scenario question. Identify the problem, the constraint, and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- CloudWatch agent configuration
- procstat plugin
- process-level metrics
- cwagent-config.json
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
CloudWatch agent configuration
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More questions from this exam
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Question 1
A company uses Amazon CloudFront to deliver content to a global audience. The origin is an Application Load Balancer in us-east-1. The SysOps administrator wants to reduce costs by minimizing the number of requests that reach the origin server. Which action should the administrator take?
Question 2
A company runs a batch processing application on Amazon EC2 that runs for 2 hours every night. The workload can tolerate interruptions. Which EC2 purchasing option provides the lowest cost for this use case?
Question 3
A SysOps administrator needs to monitor the CPU utilization of an Amazon RDS DB instance and receive an alarm when CPU utilization exceeds 80% for 5 consecutive minutes. Which AWS service should be used to create this alarm?
Question 4
A company runs a critical web application on Amazon EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The application uses session stickiness (sticky sessions) to maintain user sessions. The SysOps administrator notices that when instances are replaced during a scale-in or failure event, users lose their session data. The administrator needs to preserve session data across instance failures without losing stickiness benefits. What should the administrator do?
Question 5
A company runs a production web application on a single Amazon EC2 instance. The application experiences a predictable and steady workload 24/7. The SysOps administrator wants to minimize compute costs for this instance while ensuring it remains available during the expected workload. Which EC2 purchasing option should the administrator use?
Question 6
A company has a VPC with public and private subnets. The private subnets host application servers that need to make outbound HTTPS connections to the internet. The SysOps administrator must implement a solution that provides outbound internet connectivity while preventing inbound connections from the internet. Additionally, the solution must allow the company to control which domains the application servers can access. Which solution should the administrator implement?
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SOA-C02 question test?
CloudWatch agent configuration
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Add a procstat section under metrics_collected in the CloudWatch agent config, specifying process_name = 'app.jar' to collect per-process CPU and memory — The CloudWatch agent's procstat plugin collects process-level metrics (CPU percent, memory RSS/VSS, file descriptors, thread count) for processes matching a specified pattern. The configuration is specified in the agent's JSON configuration file under metrics.metrics_collected.procstat. The process_name or exe field matches the target process. Metrics appear in CloudWatch under the CWAgent namespace with dimensions identifying the process and instance.
What should I do if I get this SOA-C02 question wrong?
Review cloudWatch agent configuration, then practise related SOA-C02 questions on the same topic to reinforce the concept.
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