Schedule a State Manager association running an Automation document with EventBridge SNS failure notifications

Why the Answer Is Correct

The requirement is to run two existing deletion scripts in a specific order at a specific time each day and to be emailed on failure, with the least development effort. Because the scripts already exist, the solution should orchestrate them rather than rewrite their logic. A Systems Manager State Manager association invokes an Automation document at the specified time each day, which supplies the schedule for the managed instances without any cron configuration (A). The Automation document runs the deletion scripts in sequential order, so file deletion completes before database record deletion, which satisfies the explicit ordering requirement using the scripts as they are (A). An Amazon EventBridge rule is then used with Amazon SNS to send failure notifications to the company, and the SNS topic carries an email subscription so the message reaches the team (A). Every component is a managed service performing orchestration, scheduling, ordering, and notification, so no application code has to be written. uncledana characterized option A as providing the most efficient solution with the least development effort because it uses Systems Manager Automation for orchestration and SNS for notification, and Srikantha noted that State Manager can schedule such tasks without managing cron jobs or Lambda triggers. A is the correct answer.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

B uses State Manager to schedule an Automation document that runs the deletion scripts in sequential order, adds a conditional statement as the document's final step to check for errors, and uses Amazon Simple Email Service to send the failure emails. tinyshare correctly observed that A and B are broadly similar and that B adds specifics for checking errors, which is a reasonable point; the deciding factor is the notification mechanism, because Amazon SES is a separate email service that must be configured and, for automated sending, requires dedicated SES credentials, whereas an SNS topic with an email subscription is the standard managed path and requires no additional credential setup. That makes B the higher-effort option, which the requirement rules out. C creates an EventBridge rule that invokes a Lambda function at the specified time, adds permissions for the invocation to the function's resource-based policy, has the function run the deletion scripts in order, and uses SNS for failure notifications. This replaces the Systems Manager orchestration with a function that must be written, deployed, maintained, and explicitly permitted to be invoked, which is more development effort than scheduling an Automation document that runs the existing scripts. D has the same Lambda-based design and additionally uses Amazon SES for the failure email, compounding the two sources of extra effort. A is correct.

Community Comment Notes

Community voted A (78), with B a minority (22). uncledana gave the highest-rated comment, explaining that option A provides the most efficient solution with the least development effort because it uses Systems Manager Automation for orchestration and SNS for notification. Srikantha noted that State Manager can schedule tasks such as running scripts on EC2 without managing cron jobs or Lambda triggers, and that an Automation document with Run Command easily runs existing scripts, which is why the Lambda-based options add unnecessary work. tinyshare was the sole dissenter, favoring B because it adds a conditional statement that checks errors using return values; that is a legitimate difference but it does not offset the additional Amazon SES configuration B requires. No alternative received majority support.