CV0-004 Operations and Support Practice Question
A cloud architect needs to monitor CPU utilization across a fleet of EC2 instances and receive an alert when the average CPU exceeds 80% for 10 minutes. Which AWS service should be used to collect the metric and trigger the alert?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is confusing monitoring (CloudWatch) with configuration compliance (Config) or API auditing (CloudTrail) — candidates who haven't internalized the 'metrics vs. config vs. API calls' split often pick Config or CloudTrail.
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
✓
Amazon CloudWatch
Amazon CloudWatch is the AWS native monitoring service that collects EC2 metrics such as CPUUtilization at one-minute granularity (or finer with detailed monitoring) and supports CloudWatch Alarms with configurable thresholds and evaluation periods. An alarm can be set to trigger when the average CPUUtilization exceeds 80% for 10 minutes (e.g., 2 consecutive 5-minute periods or 10 consecutive 1-minute periods). CloudWatch also integrates with SNS for notifications and Auto Scaling for automated responses.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS Systems Manager
Why it's wrong here
Systems Manager handles patching, inventory and run commands, not metric collection or threshold alarms. It tempts because it surfaces instance health data, but CloudWatch is the service that ingests CPU metrics and evaluates alarm thresholds over the 10-minute period.
- ✗
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config records resource configuration changes and evaluates compliance rules, not performance metrics. It tempts because it continuously assesses resources, but it cannot collect CPU utilisation or trigger threshold alarms; CloudWatch performs that metric and alarm function.
- ✗
AWS CloudTrail
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail logs API activity for auditing, not resource performance metrics. It tempts because it provides fleet-wide visibility, but it records control-plane calls rather than CPU utilisation; CloudWatch collects metrics and evaluates the 80% threshold alarm.
- ✓
Amazon CloudWatch
Why this is correct
Amazon CloudWatch collects EC2 CPU metrics via the hypervisor and evaluates them against alarms, using periods and evaluation periods to require the average to exceed 80% across 10 minutes before triggering. This satisfies both the fleet-wide collection and sustained-threshold alerting requirements.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
This CV0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 CV0-004 exam.