This SC-200 practice question tests your understanding of manage a security operations environment. 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.
You are responsible for Microsoft Sentinel pricing. You notice that data ingestion costs are high due to verbose logs from Windows security events. You need to reduce costs while still collecting critical security events. What should you do?
Use Common Event Format (CEF) connector instead of Windows Events
Why wrong: CEF is for syslog, not Windows events.
Change the table plan to Basic Logs
Why wrong: Basic logs still incur ingestion costs, though lower.
Increase the workspace retention period to archive warm data
Why wrong: Retention does not reduce ingestion costs.
Configure Windows Security Events via AMA connector with event filtering
Filter logs at source to reduce volume.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Configure Windows Security Events via AMA connector with event filtering
Option D is correct because the Azure Monitor Agent (AMA) connector for Windows Security Events allows granular filtering of event IDs and levels, enabling you to collect only critical security events (e.g., 4624, 4625) while excluding verbose logs like Event ID 5156 (Windows Filtering Platform permit connections). This reduces ingestion volume and cost without losing essential security visibility.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Use Common Event Format (CEF) connector instead of Windows Events
Why it's wrong here
CEF is for syslog, not Windows events.
Change the table plan to Basic Logs
Why it's wrong here
Basic logs still incur ingestion costs, though lower.
Increase the workspace retention period to archive warm data
Why it's wrong here
Retention does not reduce ingestion costs.
Configure Windows Security Events via AMA connector with event filtering
Why this is correct
Filter logs at source to reduce volume.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates confuse 'reducing costs' with 'changing retention' (Option C) or 'using a different connector' (Option A), when the real solution is to filter data at the source using the AMA's event filtering capability, which directly addresses ingestion volume.
Detailed technical explanation
The AMA connector for Windows Security Events uses Data Collection Rules (DCRs) to specify which event IDs to collect via XPath queries (e.g., `*[System[(EventID=4624 or EventID=4625)]]`). This filtering happens at the source agent before data is sent to the Log Analytics workspace, directly reducing ingestion volume. In contrast, the legacy Log Analytics agent (MMA) could only filter at the workspace level via log queries, which still incurred ingestion costs for all events.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
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FAQ
Manage a security operations environment — This question tests Manage a security operations environment — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Configure Windows Security Events via AMA connector with event filtering — Option D is correct because the Azure Monitor Agent (AMA) connector for Windows Security Events allows granular filtering of event IDs and levels, enabling you to collect only critical security events (e.g., 4624, 4625) while excluding verbose logs like Event ID 5156 (Windows Filtering Platform permit connections). This reduces ingestion volume and cost without losing essential security visibility.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 25, 2026
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