CloudWatch dashboards in AWS - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ service_behavior

intermediate

What happens when you add a widget to a CloudWatch dashboard?

You add a new widget to an existing CloudWatch dashboard. What is the immediate effect on the dashboard's state?

A The widget is added but only visible after 24 hours due to caching delays.

B The widget is saved and visible on the dashboard immediately after saving changes.

C The widget is added but requires a manual refresh of the dashboard to appear.

D The widget is added but only visible to users with admin permissions.

💡 Hint

Think about how dashboards update when you save changes.

When you add a widget and save the dashboard, the widget appears immediately for all users with access. There is no delay or manual refresh needed.

❓ Configuration

intermediate

Which JSON snippet correctly defines a CloudWatch dashboard with a single metric widget?

Choose the valid JSON configuration for a CloudWatch dashboard containing one metric widget showing CPUUtilization for an EC2 instance.

A

{
  "widgets": [
    {
      "type": "metric",
      "x": 0,
      "y": 0,
      "width": 6,
      "height": 6,
      "properties": {
        "metrics": [["AWS/EC2", "CPUUtilization", "InstanceId", "i-1234567890abcdef0"]],
        "period": 300,
        "stat": "Average",
        "region": "us-east-1",
        "title": "EC2 CPU"
      }
    }
  ]
}

B

{
  "widgets": [
    {
      "type": "metric",
      "x": 0,
      "y": 0,
      "width": 6,
      "height": 6,
      "properties": {
        "metrics": ["AWS/EC2", "CPUUtilization", "InstanceId", "i-1234567890abcdef0"],
        "period": 300,
        "stat": "Average",
        "region": "us-east-1",
        "title": "EC2 CPU"
      }
    }
  ]
}

C

{
  "widgets": [
    {
      "type": "metric",
      "x": 0,
      "y": 0,
      "width": 6,
      "height": 6,
      "properties": {
        "metrics": [["AWS/EC2", "CPUUtilization"]],
        "period": 300,
        "stat": "Average",
        "region": "us-east-1",
        "title": "EC2 CPU"
      }
    }
  ]
}

D

{
  "widgets": [
    {
      "type": "metric",
      "x": 0,
      "y": 0,
      "width": 6,
      "height": 6,
      "properties": {
        "metrics": [["AWS/EC2", "CPUUtilization", "InstanceId"]],
        "period": 300,
        "stat": "Average",
        "region": "us-east-1",
        "title": "EC2 CPU"
      }
    }
  ]
}

💡 Hint

Remember the metrics property requires a list of lists with dimension key-value pairs.

The metrics property must be a list of lists, where each inner list contains the namespace, metric name, and dimension key-value pairs. Option A correctly follows this format.

❓ Architecture

advanced

How to design a CloudWatch dashboard for multi-region EC2 monitoring?

You want a single CloudWatch dashboard to show CPU utilization for EC2 instances across two AWS regions: us-east-1 and us-west-2. What is the best approach?

A Create one dashboard but omit the region property; CloudWatch will automatically aggregate metrics from all regions.

B Create two separate dashboards, one per region, and switch between them manually.

C Create one dashboard with widgets specifying the region property for each metric to show data from both regions.

D Create one dashboard and use cross-account roles to pull metrics from the other region.

💡 Hint

Think about how CloudWatch widgets specify regions for metrics.

CloudWatch dashboards can include widgets from multiple regions by specifying the region property in each widget's metric properties. This allows a single dashboard to show multi-region data.

❓ security

advanced

Which IAM policy allows read-only access to CloudWatch dashboards?

You want to grant a user permission to view CloudWatch dashboards but not modify them. Which IAM policy action is required?

A "cloudwatch:GetDashboard"

B "cloudwatch:PutDashboard"

C "cloudwatch:DeleteDashboards"

D "cloudwatch:ListDashboards"

💡 Hint

Consider which action retrieves dashboard content without changing it.

The action cloudwatch:GetDashboard allows reading dashboard content. PutDashboard and DeleteDashboards allow changes. ListDashboards only lists dashboard names.

✅ Best Practice

expert

What is the best practice to optimize CloudWatch dashboard performance with many widgets?

You have a CloudWatch dashboard with 50 widgets showing various metrics. The dashboard loads slowly. What is the best practice to improve performance?

A Remove the region property from widgets to let CloudWatch aggregate metrics automatically.

B Increase the refresh rate to update widgets more frequently.

C Add more widgets with smaller time ranges to reduce data volume per widget.

D Group related metrics into fewer widgets using metric math or multiple metrics per widget.

💡 Hint

Think about reducing the number of widgets to reduce load.

Grouping related metrics into fewer widgets reduces the number of API calls and rendering overhead, improving dashboard load times. Increasing refresh rate or adding more widgets worsens performance. Removing region property does not aggregate metrics.