AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate — Question 101

A SysOps administrator must create a solution that automatically shuts down any Amazon EC2 instances that have less than 10% average CPU utilization for 60 minutes or more.

Which solution will meet this requirement in the MOST operationally efficient manner?

Answer options

• A. Implement a cron job on each EC2 instance to run once every 60 minutes and calculate the current CPU utilization. Initiate an instance shutdown if CPU utilization is less than 10%.
• B. Implement an Amazon CloudWatch alarm for each EC2 instance to monitor average CPU utilization. Set the period at 1 hour, and set the threshold at 10%. Configure an EC2 action on the alarm to stop the instance.
• C. Install the unified Amazon CloudWatch agent on each EC2 instance, and enable the Basic level predefined metric set. Log CPU utilization every 60 minutes, and initiate an instance shutdown if CPU utilization is less than 10%.
• D. Use AWS Systems Manager Run Command to get CPU utilization from each EC2 instance every 60 minutes. Initiate an instance shutdown if CPU utilization is less than 10%.

Correct answer: B

Explanation

Option B is the most operationally efficient solution as it leverages Amazon CloudWatch alarms, which automatically monitor CPU utilization and take action without the need for manual scripting or management of individual instances. The other options involve more manual processes or additional setup, like cron jobs or CloudWatch agents, which increase operational overhead.