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AWS Solution Architect Real-World Scenarios Practical Q&A for Certification & Interview Preparation (Part 12)

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β€’4 min read
AWS Solution Architect Real-World Scenarios

Practical Q&A for Certification & Interview Preparation (Part 12)
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πŸ‘‹ Hello! I'm passionate about DevOps and have over 1+ years of experience in the field. I'm proficient in a variety of cutting-edge technologies and always motivated to expand my knowledge and skills. Let's connect and grow together!

SKILLS:

πŸ”Ή Languages & Runtimes: Python, Shell Scripting, HCL, YAML πŸ”Ή Cloud Technologies: AWS, Microsoft Azure, GCP πŸ”Ή Infrastructure Tools: Docker, Terraform, AWS CloudFormation πŸ”Ή Other Tools: Linux, Git and GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Jira, GitLab (beginner), Docker, AWS DevOps πŸ”Ή Web Development: HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, Python, SQL

Job & Responsibilities:

πŸš€ Improved development efficiency by implementing CI/CD pipelines, resulting in a 30% reduction in deployment time on the test server. πŸ”’ Strengthened deployment and testing reliability by utilizing Docker containers and optimizing Dockerfile, reducing development issues on the test server by 20%. βš™οΈ Automated S3 bucket log creation with Shell scripting, eliminating 100% of manual search and saving 2 hours per week. πŸ“… Scheduled EC2 instance start/stop using Lambda functions and Event Bridge, leading to a 25% decrease in infrastructure costs. πŸ”§ Utilized AWS, Linux, Python, Docker, Shell scripting, Terraform, Jenkins Pipelines, and automation to streamline workflows and improve overall system performance.

I'm very detail-oriented and possess strong written and verbal communication skills. As a high performer with a possibility mindset, I strive to solve problems using efficient approaches.

Let's Connect & Grow:

If you find my profile suitable for the role you are searching for, please feel free to reach out to me at sumanprasad9766@gmail.com.


🌐 Introduction

In this part, we focus on Amazon CloudWatch and AWS CloudTrail, along with practical troubleshooting using AWS tools.

These services are essential for monitoring, logging, auditing, and troubleshooting your AWS infrastructure in real-world environments.


πŸ“Š Amazon CloudWatch


⏰ CloudWatch Alarms for Monitoring


πŸ”Ή Scenario 1: Monitor EC2 CPU Utilization

Answer:

  • Create CloudWatch alarm on CPUUtilization

  • Set threshold (e.g., 80%)

  • Trigger SNS notification


πŸ”Ή Scenario 2: Monitor Lambda Errors

Answer:

  • Use Lambda Errors metric

  • Create alarm for threshold


πŸ”Ή Scenario 3: Monitor RDS Disk Space

Answer:

  • Use FreeStorageSpace metric

  • Enable RDS Enhanced Monitoring


πŸ“ˆ CloudWatch Metrics


πŸ”Ή Scenario 4: EC2 Metrics

Answer:

  • Monitor:

    • CPUUtilization

    • DiskReadOps / WriteOps

    • NetworkIn / Out

    • StatusCheckFailed


πŸ”Ή Scenario 5: ECS Monitoring

Answer:

  • Monitor:

    • CPUUtilization

    • MemoryUtilization

    • Network metrics


πŸ”Ή Scenario 6: API Gateway Monitoring

Answer:

  • Monitor:

    • Latency

    • 4XXError

    • 5XXError

    • Request Count


πŸ“ AWS CloudTrail


πŸ” Audit and Logging


πŸ”Ή Scenario 7: Track S3 Access

Answer:

  • Enable CloudTrail

  • Filter logs by bucket and actions


πŸ”Ή Scenario 8: Monitor IAM User Activity

Answer:

  • Use CloudTrail Event History

  • Filter by IAM user


πŸ”Ή Scenario 9: Audit Security Group Changes

Answer:

  • Filter:

    • AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress

    • RevokeSecurityGroupIngress


πŸ”— CloudTrail Integration


πŸ”Ή Scenario 10: Send Logs to SIEM

Answer:

  • Use CloudWatch Logs + Lambda

πŸ”Ή Scenario 11: Track AWS Config Changes

Answer:

  • CloudTrail logs AWS Config activities

πŸ”Ή Scenario 12: Track Lambda Invocations

Answer:

  • Filter logs for Lambda Invoke events

πŸ› οΈ Troubleshooting with AWS Tools


πŸ”Ή Scenario 13: EC2 Not Accessible

Answer:

  • Use:

    • CloudWatch Logs

    • VPC Flow Logs

    • EC2 System Logs


πŸ”Ή Scenario 14: High Latency Issues

Answer:

  • Use CloudWatch Metrics

  • Set alarms


πŸ”Ή Scenario 15: Lambda Failures

Answer:

  • Check:

    • CloudWatch Logs

    • Execution metrics


πŸ“¦ AWS Config for Compliance


πŸ”Ή Scenario 16: Enforce Security Group Compliance

Answer:

  • Use AWS Config rules

πŸ”Ή Scenario 17: Resource Inventory

Answer:

  • Use:

    • AWS Config

    • Systems Manager Inventory


πŸ”Ή Scenario 18: Enforce Resource Compliance

Answer:

  • Use:

    • AWS Config Rules

    • Service Control Policies (SCPs)


⏰ Advanced Monitoring Scenarios


πŸ”Ή Scenario 19: EC2 Disk Usage Alert

Answer:

  • Use CloudWatch Agent

  • Monitor DiskSpaceUtilization


πŸ”Ή Scenario 20: Lambda Duration Alert

Answer:

  • Monitor Duration metric

πŸ”Ή Scenario 21: EC2 Status Check Failures

Answer:

  • Monitor StatusCheckFailed metric

πŸ“Š Advanced Metrics Monitoring


πŸ”Ή Scenario 22: Monitor EC2 Memory Usage

Answer:

  • Install CloudWatch Agent

πŸ”Ή Scenario 23: Monitor RDS IOPS

Answer:

  • Use:

    • ReadIOPS

    • WriteIOPS


πŸ”Ή Scenario 24: Monitor S3 Storage Growth

Answer:

  • Use:

    • BucketSizeBytes

πŸ” Advanced CloudTrail Auditing


πŸ”Ή Scenario 25: Track IAM Role Changes

Answer:

  • Filter:

    • CreateRole

    • AttachRolePolicy


πŸ”Ή Scenario 26: Detect Unauthorized API Calls

Answer:

  • Filter logs by region + actions

πŸ”Ή Scenario 27: Investigate S3 Access

Answer:

  • Analyze:

    • GetObject

    • PutObject

    • Source IP


πŸ”Ή Scenario 28: Notify on S3 Changes

Answer:

  • Use CloudWatch Logs + SNS

πŸ”Ή Scenario 29: Secure CloudTrail Logs

Answer:

  • Store in S3 with SSE-KMS

  • Enable access logging


πŸ”Ή Scenario 30: Detect IAM Misconfigurations

Answer:

  • Analyze:

    • AttachUserPolicy

    • DetachUserPolicy

  • Use CloudWatch Insights


🧠 Key Takeaways

  • Use CloudWatch for monitoring and alerting

  • Use CloudTrail for auditing and security tracking

  • Combine logs + metrics for troubleshooting

  • Use AWS Config for compliance and governance

  • Automate alerts and monitoring for production systems


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