SOA-C02 Question 4
Single answerYour organization has deployed a critical web application on AWS using EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). Recently, users have reported intermittent 5XX errors when accessing the application. You are tasked with investigating and determining the root cause of the issue. Which action should you take to identify and resolve the problem?
- A
Enable ALB access logs and analyze them using Amazon Athena to identify patterns in the 5XX errors.
- B
Enable detailed CloudWatch monitoring for the EC2 instances and review the CPU and memory utilization metrics.
- C
Set up a CloudWatch alarm to notify you when the ALB generates more than 5 5XX errors in a minute.
- D
Configure VPC Flow Logs to analyze the traffic between the ALB and the backend EC2 instances.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
5XX errors indicate server-side issues that could be caused by application-level problems, backend server misconfigurations, or resource constraints. ALB access logs contain detailed information about requests and responses, making them the most effective tool for diagnosing and resolving intermittent 5XX errors. By analyzing these logs, you can identify patterns and determine the root cause of the issue.
- A. Correct.
This is the correct option. ALB access logs provide detailed information about requests and responses, including 5XX errors. By analyzing these logs with Amazon Athena, you can identify patterns, such as a specific path or time period when the errors occur, helping you pinpoint the root cause.
- B. Incorrect.
While monitoring EC2 instance metrics like CPU and memory utilization is useful, it may not directly help in diagnosing 5XX errors, which are typically related to application or server issues.
- C. Incorrect.
Setting up a CloudWatch alarm for 5XX errors can help notify you of the problem, but it does not provide the information needed to diagnose and resolve the issue.
- D. Incorrect.
VPC Flow Logs capture network traffic data but do not provide detailed insights into the HTTP responses or 5XX errors generated by the ALB.