Exams / SAA-C03 / Cost visibility and rightsizing / Question 2
SAA-C03 practice question: Cost visibility and rightsizing (2 of 2)
Design Cost-Optimized Architectures A free question from our original SAA-C03 practice exam. Try it, then open the answer to see why each option is right or wrong.
A small start-up has set itself a limit of 500 US dollars a month for AWS spending. The founders want an email warning partway through the month if spending is on track to go over this amount, so they can act before the bill arrives. They do not want to write or maintain any code. Which solution meets these requirements?
Choose one answer.
- AA. Create a monthly cost budget of 500 dollars in AWS Budgets, with an email alert when actual spend exceeds the budget.
- BB. Turn on AWS Cost Anomaly Detection with a monitor for all AWS services and a daily email alert subscription.
- CC. Create a monthly cost budget of 500 dollars in AWS Budgets, with an email alert when forecasted spend exceeds the budget.
- DD. Write an AWS Lambda function that calls the Cost Explorer API each day and emails the founders through Amazon SNS.
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: C
- A. Wrong: AWS Budgets is the right tool and needs no code, but an alert on actual spend only fires once the money has already been spent. The founders want warning while there is still time to act, which needs an alert on forecasted spend. Learn more: Managing your costs with AWS Budgets (opens in a new tab)
- B. Wrong: Cost Anomaly Detection uses machine learning to flag spending that is unusual compared with past patterns. It does not track spending against a fixed monthly limit, so steady growth toward 500 dollars might never be flagged. Learn more: Getting started with AWS Cost Anomaly Detection (opens in a new tab)
- C. Right: Correct. AWS Budgets can alert on forecasted spend as well as actual spend, and it sends notifications by email or Amazon SNS. A forecast alert warns the founders during the month, before the limit is reached, with nothing to build. Learn more: Managing your costs with AWS Budgets (opens in a new tab)
- D. Wrong: A custom function could work out the month's spending and send a warning, but it is code that the start-up would have to write and maintain. AWS Budgets already provides forecast alerts without any code.
Explanation
AWS Budgets tracks spending against an amount you set and can alert on forecasted spend, so it warns before the limit is reached rather than after. Alerts go by email or Amazon SNS and need no code. Anomaly detection finds unusual patterns, not a fixed limit, and a custom function adds code to maintain.
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