CLF-C02 Question #227: Real Exam Question with Answer & Explanation

Question

Which recommendation can AWS Cost Explorer provide to help reduce cost?

Options

• AUse a specific database engine.
• BChange the programming language for an application.
• CDeploy a specific operating system.
• DTerminate an idle instance.

Explanation

Terminating idle instances (D) is a core recommendation that AWS Cost Explorer can automatically detect and suggest, as it analyzes your usage patterns to identify EC2 instances that are running but consuming minimal or no resources - meaning you're paying for compute capacity you don't need.

Why the other options are wrong:

• A (Database engine) – Cost Explorer focuses on infrastructure usage and spending patterns, not application-layer decisions like which database engine to use; that falls under architectural guidance tools like AWS Trusted Advisor or Well-Architected Framework.
• B (Programming language) – AWS Cost Explorer has no visibility into your application code or development choices; it only analyzes billing and usage data.
• C (Operating system) – While OS choice can affect licensing costs, Cost Explorer does not make OS-level deployment recommendations; it identifies financial waste in existing resources.

Memory Tip: Think of AWS Cost Explorer as a "financial detective" - it looks at your AWS spending data and usage metrics to find waste, like a resource sitting idle burning money. If a recommendation sounds like developer or architecture advice rather than infrastructure spending optimization, it's likely outside Cost Explorer's scope.

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