SOA-C03 practice question: EC2 performance and right-sizing

Monitoring, Logging, Analysis, Remediation, and Performance Optimization A free question from our original SOA-C03 practice exam. Try it, then open the answer to see why each option is right or wrong.

A logistics broker uses AWS Compute Optimizer to right-size its EC2 fleet. For its route-planning servers, Compute Optimizer recommends a smaller instance type with half the memory, but the application owners report that memory usage on these servers is regularly above 70 percent.

The operations team wants recommendations that reflect the servers' real memory use.

What should a CloudOps engineer do?

Choose one answer.

A. Install the CloudWatch agent on the servers to publish memory utilization for Compute Optimizer to analyze.
B. Turn on enhanced infrastructure metrics so that Compute Optimizer analyzes up to three months of utilization history.
C. Turn on detailed monitoring on each instance so that Compute Optimizer receives one-minute utilization data.
D. Use the Trusted Advisor Low Utilization Amazon EC2 Instances check instead, because it includes memory in its analysis.

Show the answer and explanation

Answer: A

A. Right: Correct. Compute Optimizer can analyze memory utilization when the CloudWatch agent publishes it. With memory data, recommendations stop suggesting types that are too small for the workload. Learn more: Metrics analyzed by AWS Compute Optimizer (opens in a new tab)
B. Wrong: Enhanced infrastructure metrics lengthen the lookback period, which helps with monthly cycles. It does not give Compute Optimizer memory data the instances never published. Learn more: Enhanced infrastructure metrics (opens in a new tab)
C. Wrong: Detailed monitoring increases the frequency of standard EC2 metrics such as CPU. Memory is not among them, so the recommendation would still ignore memory. Learn more: Manage detailed monitoring for your EC2 instances (opens in a new tab)
D. Wrong: This Trusted Advisor check looks at CPU utilization and network I/O. It does not consider memory and would not solve the problem. Learn more: AWS Trusted Advisor check reference (opens in a new tab)

Explanation

Compute Optimizer only knows what CloudWatch knows. EC2 reports CPU, network and disk I/O from the hypervisor, but memory needs the CloudWatch agent inside the instance. Once memory metrics are published, Compute Optimizer uses them and its recommendations account for memory-heavy workloads.

SOA-C03 practice question: EC2 performance and right-sizing

Explanation

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