Amazon SOA-C03 Exam - Topic 3 Question 5 Discussion

Actual exam question for Amazon's SOA-C03 exam

Question #: 5
Topic #: 3

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A company's architecture team must receive immediate email notifications whenever new Amazon EC2 instances are launched in the company's main AWS production account.

What should a CloudOps engineer do to meet this requirement?

ACreate a user data script that sends an email message through a smart host connector. Include the architecture team's email address in the user data script as the recipient. Ensure that all new EC2 instances include the user data script as part of a standardized build process.

BCreate an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic and a subscription that uses the email protocol. Enter the architecture team's email address as the subscriber. Create an Amazon EventBridge rule that reacts when EC2 instances are launched. Specify the SNS topic as the rule's target.

CCreate an Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS) queue and a subscription that uses the email protocol. Enter the architecture team's email address as the subscriber. Create an Amazon EventBridge rule that reacts when EC2 instances are launched. Specify the SQS queue as the rule's target.

DCreate an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic. Configure AWS Systems Manager to publish EC2 events to the SNS topic. Create an AWS Lambda function to poll the SNS topic. Configure the Lambda function to send any messages to the architecture team's email address.

Show Suggested Answer

Suggested Answer: B

As per the AWS Cloud Operations and Event Monitoring documentation, the most efficient method for event-driven notification is to use Amazon EventBridge to detect specific EC2 API events and trigger a Simple Notification Service (SNS) alert.

EventBridge continuously monitors AWS service events, including RunInstances, which signals the creation of new EC2 instances. When such an event occurs, EventBridge sends it to an SNS topic, which then immediately emails subscribed recipients --- in this case, the architecture team.

This combination provides real-time, serverless notifications with minimal management. SQS (Option C) is designed for queue-based processing, not direct user alerts. User data scripts (Option A) and custom polling with Lambda (Option D) introduce unnecessary operational complexity and latency.

Hence, Option B is the correct and AWS-recommended CloudOps design for immediate launch notifications.

by Novella at Nov 01, 2025, 01:38 PM

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Alexis

5 hours ago

I like option D, but it feels over-engineered. SNS alone should suffice.

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Lonna

5 days ago

Option A seems too complex. User data scripts can be error-prone.

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Dyan

11 days ago

I think option B is the best choice. SNS is straightforward for notifications.

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Cherri

16 days ago

I didn’t know you could set up email notifications so easily!

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Nathan

21 days ago

Wait, why not just use EventBridge directly with SNS?

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Frederick

26 days ago

I think A could work, but it’s not the most efficient way.

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Andree

1 month ago

I disagree, D seems overly complicated for this task.

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Viola

1 month ago

Option B is the best choice! SNS is perfect for notifications.

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Cordie

1 month ago

B is the way to go. Can't go wrong with SNS and EventBridge.

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Shantay

2 months ago

Hmm, I'm not sure. Option D with the Lambda function seems a bit overkill for this use case.

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Mitsue

2 months ago

I vaguely recall something about SQS being used for messaging, but I don't think it fits here since we need immediate email notifications. So, I guess C isn't the best option.

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Carlee

2 months ago

I feel like option D is overcomplicating things with the Lambda function. Isn't it better to keep it simple with SNS and EventBridge as in option B?

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Yuonne

2 months ago

I agree, B seems like the best choice here. Simple and effective.

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Winifred

2 months ago

I'm not entirely sure, but I think using user data scripts like in option A might not be the best approach for immediate notifications. It feels a bit outdated compared to event-driven solutions.

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Michal

2 months ago

Option B looks like the most straightforward solution to me.

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Niesha

3 months ago

Haha, I bet the architecture team would appreciate a good old-fashioned email notification. No need to get fancy!

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Alline

3 months ago

I agree! SNS with EventBridge is efficient. Immediate alerts are crucial.

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Gary

3 months ago

I remember we discussed using SNS for notifications in a similar practice question. It seems like B could be the right choice since it directly mentions email subscriptions.

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Marilynn

3 months ago

I'm leaning towards option B as well. Creating the SNS topic and subscription is straightforward, and it seems like the most reliable way to ensure the notifications get delivered to the architecture team's email.

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Doretha

4 months ago

I like how option D uses Systems Manager to publish the events to SNS, and then a Lambda function to handle the email notifications. That seems like a good way to decouple the different components and make it more scalable.

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Tomoko

4 months ago

The user data script in option A seems like it could work, but I'm worried about having to manage that script across all new EC2 instances. The EventBridge and SNS/SQS options seem more centralized and easier to maintain.

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Lai

4 months ago

I'm a bit confused on the difference between using SNS versus SQS. Wouldn't either of those options work to send the notifications? I'm not sure which one would be better in this case.

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Carrol

4 months ago

I think option B is the best approach here. Creating an SNS topic and subscription with the email protocol seems like the most straightforward way to get the notifications to the architecture team.

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