Monitoring Compute Savings Plans Coverage with AWS Budgets

SAA-C03 By islever Editorial Last updated

Design cost-optimized compute solutions.

Short answer

A Create a daily budget for the Savings Plans by using AWS Budgets and configure a coverage threshold to send notifications.

Question

A company uses Amazon EC2, AWS Fargate, and AWS Lambda to run multiple workloads in the company's AWS account. The company wants to fully make use of its Compute Savings Plans. The company wants to receive notification when coverage of the Compute Savings Plans drops. Which solution will meet these requirements with the MOST operational efficiency?
  1. Create a daily budget for the Savings Plans by using AWS Budgets. Configure the budget with a coverage threshold to send notifications to the appropriate email message recipients. Correct Answer
  2. Create a Lambda function that runs a coverage report against the Savings Plans. Use Amazon Simple Email Service (Amazon SES) to email the report to the appropriate email message recipients.
  3. Create an AWS Budgets report for the Savings Plans budget. Set the frequency to daily.
  4. Create a Savings Plans alert subscription. Enable all notification options. Enter an email address to receive notifications.

Key Takeaways

The question tests the distinction between Savings Plan expiration alerts and real-time coverage monitoring, where Budgets provide efficient threshold-based tracking while Alerts handle expiration only.

This page explains how to monitor EC2, Fargate, and Lambda coverage using AWS Budgets thresholds for maximum operational efficiency. It establishes that configuring a budget with a coverage threshold is the correct method to trigger notifications when utilization drops.

Common mistake: Candidates often select Option D because they confuse 'coverage drop' notifications with 'expiration' alerts; however, Savings Plan Alerts do not notify on coverage decreases, only on plan expiry or queue status.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

Option A is correct because AWS Budgets supports specific 'Savings Plans' budgets that track utilization and coverage percentages. By setting a coverage threshold (e.g., below 80%), you can configure SNS or email notifications automatically. This requires zero code maintenance compared to other options, satisfying the 'MOST operational efficiency' requirement.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Option D is incorrect because Savings Plan Alerts are designed exclusively for expiration warnings and queued purchase notifications, not for monitoring daily coverage drops. Option B involves creating and maintaining a Lambda function, which adds significant operational overhead compared to the native Budgets feature. Option C describes generating a report, which is a passive action and does not actively send notifications upon a threshold breach.

Community Comment Notes

Community consensus strongly favors Option A based on official documentation stating that Budgets can track RI or Savings Plans coverage and notify via email or SNS. Several users noted that Option D is specifically for expiration events, as confirmed by AWS announcements: "Savings Plans Alerts... now available" refers to expiration logic. One user clarified: "D is alert for expiration. A is for coverage drop." This distinction is critical for passing the exam.

Official Reference

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/latest/userguide/sp-usingBudgets.html

This link opens the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

When an AWS question asks for 'operational efficiency' regarding cost monitoring, always prefer managed services like AWS Budgets over custom code (Lambda). Differentiate between 'Cost/Usage' budgets and 'Savings Plans' alerts; the former covers utilization/coverage, while the latter covers expiration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Option D (Savings Plans Alerts) incorrect?

Savings Plans Alerts only notify about plan expiration and queued purchases. They do not provide notifications for daily coverage or utilization drops.

Does AWS Budgets support Savings Plans coverage tracking?

Yes, you can create a Savings Plans budget in AWS Budgets to track coverage percentage and set thresholds to trigger SNS or email notifications.

More SAA-C03 FAQ →

Community Votes

A
65%
D
35%

65% of anonymous learners picked answer A. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 15 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 15

  1. anikolov 👍 10 Answered A
    My vote is for A : https://docs.aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/latest/userguide/sp-usingBudgets.html
  2. lenotc 👍 6 Answered D
    D: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2020/11/savings-plans-alerts-now-available-in-aws-cost-management/
  3. MatAlves 👍 4 Answered A
    A - describes exactly what is said in this link: "You can use AWS Budgets to enable simple-to-complex cost and usage tracking. Some examples include: (...) Setting a daily utilization or coverage budget to track your RI or Savings Plans. You can choose to be notified through email and Amazon SNS topics when your utilization drops below 80 percent for a given day." https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cost-management/latest/userguide/budgets-managing-costs.html
  4. Kezuko 👍 4 Answered D
    https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws-cloud-financial-management/launch-savings-plans-expiration-and-queued-alerts-now-available-in-aws-cost-management/
  5. Scheldon 👍 3 Answered A
    AnswerA We can set Savings Plan in AWS Budgets which will notify us if utilization, coverage and costs will be not in set range. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/latest/userguide/sp-usingBudgets.html
Show 10 more comments
  1. jaswantn 👍 3
    Option D...In the Savings Plans Overview page indicate how many days in advance you would like to receive Savings Plans Alerts for Plan's expiration and upcoming queued purchase notifications.
  2. rosanna 👍 2 Answered D
    AWS budget is mostly used to avoid exceeding the threshold, not under utilization alert.
  3. zdi561 👍 2 Answered A
    D is alert for expiration. A is for coverage drop.
  4. ManishGup 👍 1
    Ny vote going to D. https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws-cloud-financial-management/launch-savings-plans-expiration-and-queued-alerts-now-available-in-aws-cost-management/
  5. sk1974 👍 1 Answered D
    Question asks when 'The company wants to receive notification when coverage of the Compute Savings Plans drops.' . So . I will say answer id D
  6. Mistwalker 👍 1 Answered D
    It sure seems to be this: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2020/11/savings-plans-alerts-now-available-in-aws-cost-management/
  7. xBUGx 👍 3 Answered A
    A is precisely targeted
  8. Andy_09 👍 3
    Option D
  9. YGHUIWRHF1234 👍 2 Answered A
    Correct answer is A
  10. Indrasis 👍 2 Answered A
    A is correct

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