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A company wants to implement detailed tracking of its cloud costs by department and project.

Which AWS feature or service should the company use?

• • A. Consolidated billing

• • B. Cost allocation tags

• • C. AWS Marketplace

• • D. AWS Budgets

Answer explanation

To implement detailed tracking of cloud costs by department and project in AWS, the company should use:

B. Cost allocation tags

Explanation:

- Consolidated billing (Option A) allows combining payment for multiple AWS accounts into a single bill but does not provide detailed tracking by department or project.

- Cost allocation tags (Option B) are key-value pairs that can be applied to AWS resources (such as EC2 instances, S3 buckets, etc.). These tags enable detailed cost tracking across departments, projects, or any other dimension relevant to the organization's structure or needs. AWS Cost Explorer and AWS Cost and Usage Report can use these tags to provide granular insights into spending.

- AWS Marketplace (Option C) is an online store for buying and selling software that runs on AWS, not directly related to cost tracking by department or project.

- AWS Budgets (Option D) allow setting custom cost and usage budgets that alert you when you exceed them, but they do not directly facilitate detailed tracking by department or project.

Therefore, Cost allocation tags (Option B) are the most suitable AWS feature for implementing detailed tracking of cloud costs by department and project.

A user wants to invoke an AWS Lambda function when an Amazon EC2 instance enters the “stopping” state.

Which AWS service is appropriate for this use case?

• • A. Amazon EventBridge

• • B. AWS Config

• • C. Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS)

• • D. AWS CloudFormation

Answer explanation

To invoke an AWS Lambda function when an Amazon EC2 instance enters the "stopping" state, the appropriate AWS service to use is:

A. Amazon EventBridge

Explanation:

- Amazon EventBridge (formerly known as Amazon CloudWatch Events) is a serverless event bus that makes it easy to connect applications together using data from your own applications, integrated AWS services, and SaaS applications. It allows you to respond to state changes in AWS resources, such as EC2 instances entering different states like "stopping".

- AWS Config (Option B) is a service that enables you to assess, audit, and evaluate the configurations of your AWS resources. It does not directly trigger actions based on state changes of EC2 instances.

- Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) (Option C) is a pub/sub messaging service that can send notifications via email, SMS, or other endpoints based on events, but it does not directly integrate with EC2 instance state changes.

- AWS CloudFormation (Option D) is used for infrastructure as code, enabling you to automate the deployment and management of AWS resources. It does not directly respond to real-time events like EC2 instance state changes.

Therefore, Amazon EventBridge (Option A) is the correct choice as it allows you to create rules that match events, such as EC2 instance state changes, and trigger AWS Lambda functions or other actions in response.

A company has a MariaDB database on premises. The company wants to move the data to the AWS Cloud.

Which AWS service will host this database with the LEAST amount of operational overhead?

• • A. Amazon RDS

• • B. Amazon Neptune

• • C. Amazon S3

• • D. Amazon DynamoDB

Answer explanation

To host a MariaDB database with the least amount of operational overhead in AWS, the best choice is:

A. Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service)

Explanation:

- Amazon RDS is a fully managed relational database service that supports several database engines, including MySQL and MariaDB. It automates routine administrative tasks such as hardware provisioning, database setup, patching, and backups. This significantly reduces operational overhead compared to managing a database on EC2 instances or on-premises.

- Amazon Neptune (Option B) is a fully managed graph database service optimized for storing and querying highly connected data. It is not suitable for hosting MariaDB databases.

- Amazon S3 (Option C) is object storage for storing and retrieving data. It is not a relational database service and does not support MariaDB.

- Amazon DynamoDB (Option D) is a fully managed NoSQL database service. It is not suitable for hosting relational databases like MariaDB.

Therefore, Amazon RDS (Option A) is the correct choice as it provides the least amount of operational overhead for hosting MariaDB databases in the AWS Cloud.

Which AWS service or feature supports governance, compliance, and risk auditing of AWS accounts?

• • A. Multi-factor authentication (MFA)

• • B. AWS Lambda

• • C. Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS)

• • D. AWS CloudTrail

Answer explanation

The correct answer is:

D. AWS CloudTrail

Explanation:

- AWS CloudTrail is a service that enables governance, compliance, and operational and risk auditing of AWS accounts. It records AWS API calls and delivers log files to Amazon S3 buckets for storage and analysis. This allows you to track changes made to AWS resources and analyze API call history for security analysis, resource change tracking, and compliance auditing.

- Multi-factor authentication (MFA) (Option A) is a security feature that adds an extra layer of protection to user accounts and doesn't directly provide governance, compliance, or auditing capabilities.

- AWS Lambda (Option B) is a serverless compute service for running code in response to events and doesn't provide specific governance or compliance auditing features.

- Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) (Option C) is a messaging service for sending notifications and doesn't provide governance or compliance auditing features.

Therefore, AWS CloudTrail (Option D) is the service designed specifically for governance, compliance, and risk auditing of AWS accounts.

Which AWS Cloud design principle is a company using when the company implements AWS CloudTrail?

• • A. Activate traceability.

• • B. Use serverless compute architectures.

• • C. Perform operations as code.

• • D. Go global in minutes.

Answer explanation

The correct answer is:

A. Activate traceability.

Explanation:

- Activate traceability is a design principle that emphasizes the importance of capturing and analyzing actions and changes made to resources in your AWS environment. AWS CloudTrail is specifically designed to provide traceability by recording API calls and events across your AWS infrastructure. It helps in tracking user activity, resource changes, and can be used for security analysis, compliance auditing, and operational troubleshooting.

- Use serverless compute architectures (Option B) refers to leveraging services like AWS Lambda and doesn't directly relate to AWS CloudTrail.

- Perform operations as code (Option C) involves practices such as Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using tools like AWS CloudFormation or AWS CDK, but it's not directly related to AWS CloudTrail.

- Go global in minutes (Option D) refers to the scalability and global reach of AWS services but isn't directly related to AWS CloudTrail.

Therefore, when a company implements AWS CloudTrail, they are adhering to the design principle of activating traceability to ensure visibility and accountability across their AWS environment.

A company needs a threat detection service that will continuously monitor its AWS accounts, workloads, and Amazon S3 buckets for malicious activity and unauthorized behavior.

Which AWS service meets these requirements?

• • A. AWS Shield

• • B. AWS Firewall Manager

• • C. Amazon GuardDuty

• • D. Amazon Inspector

Answer explanation

The correct answer is:

C. Amazon GuardDuty

Explanation:

- Amazon GuardDuty is a threat detection service that continuously monitors for malicious activity and unauthorized behavior in your AWS accounts and workloads. It analyzes events, such as unusual API calls or potentially unauthorized deployments, to detect threats like compromised EC2 instances or unauthorized access to S3 buckets. GuardDuty uses machine learning and threat intelligence to identify anomalies and potential security issues.

- AWS Shield (Option A) is a managed Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection service that safeguards web applications running on AWS against large and sophisticated DDoS attacks. It does not provide continuous monitoring for general threat detection like GuardDuty.

- AWS Firewall Manager (Option B) centrally manages firewall rules across multiple AWS accounts and resources. While it helps enforce organizational security policies, it is focused on managing firewall rules rather than continuous threat detection.

- Amazon Inspector (Option D) is an automated security assessment service that helps improve the security and compliance of applications deployed on AWS. It assesses the security of EC2 instances and their applications by analyzing their configurations and behavior. However, it is not designed for continuous monitoring across multiple AWS services and accounts for threat detection.

Therefore, Amazon GuardDuty is the AWS service that best meets the company's requirement for continuous threat detection across AWS accounts, workloads, and S3 buckets.

A company is planning to migrate to the AWS Cloud. The company is conducting organizational transformation and wants to become more responsive to customer inquiries and feedback.

Which task should the company perform to meet these requirements, according to the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (AWS CAF)?

• • A. Realign teams to focus on products and value streams.

• • B. Create new value propositions with new products and services.

• • C. Use a new data and analytics platform to create actionable insights.

• • D. Migrate and modernize legacy infrastructure.

Answer explanation

The correct answer according to the AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (AWS CAF) is:

A. Realign teams to focus on products and value streams.

Explanation:

- AWS CAF Perspective: Organizational Readiness focuses on aligning organizational structure, roles, and responsibilities to maximize agility and responsiveness. This includes restructuring teams to be more product-focused rather than functionally siloed. By realigning teams to focus on products and value streams, the company can become more responsive to customer inquiries and feedback.

- Option B, creating new value propositions, is related to Business Innovation in AWS CAF, which is about leveraging the cloud to create new products and services rather than organizational transformation.

- Option C, using a new data and analytics platform, is aligned with Data Driven perspective in AWS CAF, which emphasizes using data to drive insights and decision-making.

- Option D, migrating and modernizing legacy infrastructure, is part of the Technology Modernization perspective in AWS CAF, aimed at optimizing and transforming IT infrastructure.

Therefore, the most appropriate action for the company to meet its goal of becoming more responsive to customer inquiries and feedback, as per AWS CAF, is to realign teams to focus on products and value streams (Option A).

A company wants to rightsize its Amazon EC2 instances.

Which configuration change will meet this requirement with the LEAST operational overhead?

• • A. Add EC2 instances in another Availability Zone.

• • B. Change the size and type of the EC2 instances based on utilization.

• • C. Convert the payment method from On-Demand to Savings Plans.

• • D. Reprovision the EC2 instances with a larger instance type.

Answer explanation

The correct answer is:

B. Change the size and type of the EC2 instances based on utilization.

Explanation:

- Option A (Add EC2 instances in another Availability Zone): This option increases the number of instances but does not necessarily rightsize existing instances. It adds operational overhead by managing more instances across Availability Zones.

- Option B (Change the size and type of the EC2 instances based on utilization): This is the correct answer. Rightsizing involves adjusting the instance type and size to match the workload's current needs. This can be done based on utilization metrics, ensuring that resources are not underutilized or overprovisioned.

- Option C (Convert the payment method from On-Demand to Savings Plans): This change affects the cost structure but does not directly address rightsizing instances to match workload requirements.

- Option D (Reprovision the EC2 instances with a larger instance type): This option suggests upgrading to larger instances, which might not be necessary for rightsizing and could lead to overprovisioning if not based on utilization metrics.

Therefore, option B is the correct choice as it aligns with the goal of rightsizing EC2 instances with minimal operational overhead by adjusting instance types and sizes based on current workload utilization.

Which AWS service supports user sign-up functionality and authentication to mobile and web applications?

• • A. Amazon Cognito

• • B. AWS Config

• • C. Amazon GuardDuty

• • D. AWS Systems Manager

Answer explanation

The correct answer is:

A. Amazon Cognito

Explanation:

- Amazon Cognito is an AWS service designed to handle user authentication, authorization, and user management for mobile and web applications. It supports user sign-up, sign-in, and can synchronize user data across devices.

- AWS Config is a service that helps assess, audit, and evaluate the configurations of AWS resources, ensuring compliance with policies and guidelines, but it does not manage user authentication.

- Amazon GuardDuty is a threat detection service that continuously monitors for malicious activity and unauthorized behavior to protect AWS accounts and workloads.

- AWS Systems Manager is a management service that helps you automate tasks across your AWS resources, but it is not specifically designed for user authentication and sign-up.

Therefore, Amazon Cognito (option A) is the service that supports user sign-up functionality and authentication for mobile and web applications.

Which benefit of the AWS Cloud helps companies achieve lower usage costs because of the aggregate usage of all AWS users?

• • A. No need to guess capacity

• • B. Ability to go global in minutes

• • C. Economies of scale

• • D. Increased speed and agility

Answer explanation

The correct answer is:

C. Economies of scale

Explanation:

- Economies of scale refers to the cost advantages that companies can achieve when they scale their operations and increase the volume of production or usage. In the context of AWS, economies of scale are realized because AWS aggregates the usage of all its customers, allowing it to negotiate lower prices for infrastructure components (like compute, storage, and networking) from suppliers. These savings are then passed on to customers in the form of lower usage costs.

- No need to guess capacity (option A) refers to the benefit of elasticity and scalability in AWS, where users can scale resources up or down based on demand, avoiding over-provisioning or under-provisioning.

- Ability to go global in minutes (option B) refers to the capability of deploying applications globally across AWS Regions and Availability Zones quickly, leveraging AWS's global infrastructure.

- Increased speed and agility (option D) refers to the ability to innovate and deploy applications quickly in AWS, thanks to the on-demand nature of cloud services and the availability of a wide range of managed services.

Therefore, option C, Economies of scale, specifically addresses the benefit where AWS users can achieve lower usage costs due to AWS's ability to leverage economies of scale in purchasing and provisioning resources.