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CLF-032
Which service is most appropriate for receiving a notification when AWS charges are about to exceed an expected amount?
Choices
Explanation and answer
Read the explanation and correct answer (spoiler — try answering first)
Correct answer: A. AWS Budgets
Explanation
AWS Budgets lets you set thresholds for budget amounts and usage, and receive notifications when the thresholds are exceeded or forecasted to be exceeded.
Per-choice explanations
A. AWS Budgets
Correct. AWS Budgets is used for cost monitoring and budget alerts.
B. AWS Shield
Incorrect. AWS Shield is a DDoS protection service. It is not used for cost notifications.
C. Amazon CloudFront
Incorrect. CloudFront is a content delivery network. It is not a budget notification service.
D. AWS CloudTrail
Incorrect. CloudTrail records API activity within an AWS account.
Practical Use
AWS Budgets is a cost management service that lets you set thresholds for AWS charges and usage, and receive notifications when those thresholds are exceeded or forecasted to be exceeded. You can set budgets on multiple dimensions, including monthly, quarterly, or annual budget amounts, coverage and utilization metrics for Reserved Instances and Savings Plans, and usage by specific service or tag. Notifications can be sent to Amazon SNS topics, to email, or to Slack and Microsoft Teams through AWS Chatbot. On the exam, the typical question asks which service is appropriate for receiving a notification when AWS charges are about to exceed an expected amount. Distractors that frequently appear include CloudTrail (records API activity), CloudFront (CDN), and Shield (DDoS protection). None of these are primarily cost notification services, so as long as you understand the scope of each, you can easily rule them out. In practice, AWS Budgets is often used in combination with AWS Cost Explorer. Cost Explorer is for analyzing costs from the past up to the present, while AWS Budgets is for alerting when a predefined threshold is crossed. CLF-C02 frequently tests this division of roles between the two services. As a low-cost first step against unexpected bills, the typical recommendation is to set up a single monthly budget alert at the account level in AWS Budgets.