AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional — Question 612

A solutions architect must analyze a company's Amazon EC2 instances and Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) volumes to determine whether the company is using resources efficiently. The company is running several large, high-memory EC2 instances to host database clusters that are deployed in active/ passive configurations. The utilization of these EC2 instances varies by the applications that use the databases, and the company has not identified a pattern.
The solutions architect must analyze the environment and take action based on the findings.
Which solution meets these requirements MOST cost-effectively?

Answer options

• A. Create a dashboard by using AWS Systems Manager OpsCenter. Configure visualizations for Amazon CloudWatch metrics that are associated with the EC2 instances and their EBS volumes. Review the dashboard periodically, and identify usage patterns. Rightsize the EC2 instances based on the peaks in the metrics.
• B. Turn on Amazon CloudWatch detailed monitoring for the EC2 instances and their EBS volumes. Create and review a dashboard that is based on the metrics. Identify usage patterns. Rightsize the EC2 instances based on the peaks in the metrics.
• C. Install the Amazon CloudWatch agent on each of the EC2 instances. Turn on AWS Compute Optimizer, and let it run for at least 12 hours. Review the recommendations from Compute Optimizer, and rightsize the EC2 instances as directed.
• D. Sign up for the AWS Enterprise Support plan. Turn on AWS Trusted Advisor. Wait 12 hours. Review the recommendations from Trusted Advisor, and rightsize the EC2 instances as directed.

Correct answer: C

Explanation

AWS Compute Optimizer provides automated, machine learning-based recommendations to rightsize EC2 instances and EBS volumes, which is highly cost-effective. Because the database instances are high-memory, installing the CloudWatch agent is required to feed memory utilization metrics to Compute Optimizer for accurate sizing recommendations. Manual dashboard analysis (Options A and B) is inefficient and error-prone, while purchasing an Enterprise Support plan (Option D) is not a cost-effective solution.