AWS Certified SysOps Administrator Practice Exam

What is the likely reason if only one Auto Scaling Group has the CloudWatch agent installed?

1. The Auto Scaling group was never configured to use a specific AMI

2. The CloudWatch agent needs to be installed manually on each instance

3. The AMI used for one group contains the CloudWatch agent

4. Auto Scaling Groups do not allow agent installations

The correct answer is: The AMI used for one group contains the CloudWatch agent

The correct answer is based on the deployment of the CloudWatch agent through an Amazon Machine Image (AMI). When an Auto Scaling Group is created, it can be configured to launch instances using a specific AMI, which can include pre-installed software like the CloudWatch agent. If one Auto Scaling Group has the CloudWatch agent installed, it is likely because the AMI that this group is using is specifically configured to include the agent. This means any instance launched from this AMI would automatically have the CloudWatch agent operational without the need for additional manual installation or configuration. The presence of the CloudWatch agent in one group suggests that this particular AMI was built to support monitoring and metrics collection by including the necessary agent during its creation. In contrast, other Auto Scaling Groups may not have this AMI assigned to them, resulting in the absence of the CloudWatch agent on the instances they launch. The rationale behind other possibilities, such as needing to install the agent manually on each instance or that Auto Scaling Groups do not permit agent installations, does not account for the automated nature of AMIs and their capabilities to bundle software environments.