CV0-004 Operations and Support Practice Question
A company uses AWS CloudFormation to manage infrastructure. The operations team needs to be alerted when a stack update fails. Which TWO methods can be used to send notifications? (Choose two.)
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
✓
Configure CloudFormation to send events to an SNS topic
Option C is correct because CloudFormation natively supports associating an SNS topic with stack events, so when a stack update fails CloudFormation publishes the event to that topic and subscribers (email, SMS, Lambda, etc.) receive the notification. Option E is correct because CloudFormation emits stack state-change events to Amazon EventBridge (CloudWatch Events), and a rule matching the StackStatus value UPDATE_FAILED (or UPDATE_ROLLBACK_COMPLETE with failure) can trigger an SNS topic, Lambda, or other target to alert the operations team. Option A is not correct because AWS Trusted Advisor checks cost, security, fault tolerance, performance, and service limits — it does not monitor CloudFormation stack update failures. Option B is not correct because CloudTrail records API calls for auditing, and while its logs can be sent to CloudWatch Logs, this does not by itself generate failure notifications for stack updates. Option D is not correct because AWS Config evaluates resource configuration compliance and does not detect or notify on CloudFormation stack update failures.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use AWS Trusted Advisor to monitor CloudFormation
Why it's wrong here
Trusted Advisor checks service limits, security and cost posture; it does not emit events on CloudFormation stack operation states. It would be the choice for surfacing idle resources or exposed access keys, not for alerting on update failures.
- ✗
Enable CloudTrail to log stack updates and send logs to CloudWatch Logs
Why it's wrong here
CloudTrail records API activity for audit and governance, not stack-failure alerting; it captures the UpdateStack call but delivers no notification mechanism. It is tempting because CloudTrail plus CloudWatch Logs can surface events, yet the stem requires proactive alerts, which CloudFormation itself emits via SNS topics configured on stack events.
- ✓
Configure CloudFormation to send events to an SNS topic
Why this is correct
CloudFormation publishes stack lifecycle events, including update failures, to an SNS topic specified in the stack's notification configuration. Subscribers then receive alerts, directly satisfying the requirement to notify the operations team when a stack update fails.
- ✗
Use AWS Config to detect stack failures
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config records resource configuration changes and evaluates compliance against rules; it does not emit CloudFormation stack-event notifications. Stack update failures surface through CloudFormation events, which Amazon SNS topics or EventBridge rules can route. AWS Config would be the right choice for detecting configuration drift or non-compliant resources, not for alerting on stack update failures.
- ✓
Create a CloudWatch Events rule that matches CloudFormation stack update failure events
Why this is correct
CloudWatch Events (EventBridge) matches CloudFormation stack state-change events, including UPDATE_FAILED, and routes them to a target such as SNS or Lambda. This satisfies the alerting requirement by reacting to the failure event rather than polling stack status.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.