How to search serverless logs with least operational overhead?

DVA-C02 By islever Editorial Last updated Aug 31, 2026

Short answer

D Set up Route 53 health checks to monitor the application's availability. Turn on Amazon CloudWatch Logs for the API Gateway stages to log API requests with a JSON log format. Use CloudWatch Logs Insights to search and analyze the logs from the AWS services that the application uses.

Question

A developer builds a serverless application on AWS by using Amazon API Gateway, AWS Lambda functions, and Amazon Route 53. During testing, the developer notices errors but cannot immediately locate the root cause. To identify the errors, the developer needs to search all the application's logs. What should the developer do to meet these requirements with the LEAST operational overhead?

Set up API Gateway health checks to monitor the application's availability. Use the Amazon CloudWatch PutMetricData API operation to publish the logs to CloudWatch. Search and query the logs by using Amazon Athena.
Set up Route 53 health checks to monitor the application's availability. Turn on AWS CloudTrail logs for all the AWS services that the application uses. Send the logs to a specified Amazon S3 bucket. Use Amazon Athena to query the log files directly from Amazon S3.
Configure all the application's AWS services to publish a real-time feed of log events to an Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose delivery stream. Configure the delivery stream to publish all the logs to an Amazon S3 bucket. Use Amazon OpenSearch Service to search and analyze the logs.
Set up Route 53 health checks to monitor the application's availability. Turn on Amazon CloudWatch Logs for the API Gateway stages to log API requests with a JSON log format. Use CloudWatch Logs Insights to search and analyze the logs from the AWS services that the application uses. Correct Answer

Key Takeaways

This question tests the ability to select native AWS monitoring tools for log analysis, with the common trap being the selection of over-engineered solutions like Athena or OpenSearch Service that introduce unnecessary operational overhead.

For serverless applications requiring centralized log analysis with minimal setup, Amazon CloudWatch Logs and CloudWatch Logs Insights provide the most efficient native solution. The community consensus confirms that leveraging built-in AWS logging tools reduces operational overhead compared to third-party or complex data pipeline architectures.

Common mistake: Selecting Option C is a common mistake because Amazon OpenSearch Service offers powerful search capabilities, but configuring Kinesis Data Firehose and OpenSearch creates significant operational overhead compared to the native CloudWatch Logs Insights service.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

Option D is correct because it utilizes Amazon CloudWatch Logs, the native logging solution for AWS Lambda and API Gateway. CloudWatch Logs Insights provides a built-in, interactive query interface that allows developers to instantly search and analyze log data without managing infrastructure or configuring complex data pipelines, directly meeting the requirement for least operational overhead.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Option A incorrectly suggests using the PutMetricData API for logging (which is for metrics) and using Athena, which adds unnecessary complexity for simple log searching. Option B suggests using CloudTrail, which captures API call history for auditing rather than detailed application error logs, and querying S3 via Athena is less immediate than native tools. Option C involves setting up Kinesis Data Firehose and OpenSearch Service, which requires substantial provisioning and management, violating the low operational overhead constraint.

Community Comment Notes

Community feedback strongly supports Option D, emphasizing its minimal configuration needs and cost-efficiency. Users highlighted that CloudWatch Logs Insights offers a powerful query interface and that relying on existing AWS services like CloudWatch eliminates the need for third-party tools or extra infrastructure, making it the best choice for a serverless environment.

Official Reference

These links open the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

When you see 'least operational overhead' in the context of monitoring AWS services, prioritize native, integrated solutions like CloudWatch Logs and Insights over complex data pipelines. Avoid over-engineering with services like Kinesis or Athena unless the question specifically requires features not available in standard monitoring tools.

Community Votes

100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer D. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 3 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 3

albert_kuo 👍 3 Answered D

Minimal Operational Overhead: Uses built-in AWS services with minimal configuration. Centralized Log Analysis: CloudWatch Logs Insights provides a powerful, interactive query interface to analyze logs. Cost-Efficient: Utilizing existing AWS services like CloudWatch and Route 53 reduces the need for additional third-party tools or infrastructure.
Mo_1981 👍 2 Answered D

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/monitoring-cloudwatchlogs.html
catoteja 👍 4 Answered D

It's D-

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