AWS Technical Essentials Practice

AWS CloudWatch is the service designed specifically for monitoring and logging resource usage in AWS. It provides detailed insights into the operational performance of your resources, such as EC2 instances, RDS databases, and other AWS services. By tracking metrics like CPU utilization, disk reads/writes, and network traffic, CloudWatch enables users to identify areas where their resources might be underutilized or overutilized.

Additionally, CloudWatch allows the setting of alarms and automated actions based on specific thresholds. This feature can help organizations proactively manage their resources, ensuring that they are not overspending on unused capacity. Enhanced visibility into resource usage can lead to smarter decisions regarding resource allocation, which can directly influence cost optimization.

The other services mentioned do not serve the same purpose. While AWS Simple Notification Service is used for messaging and notifications, and AWS CodePipeline is a continuous integration and delivery service that automates application deployments, they do not focus on monitoring or cost optimization. AWS Direct Connect facilitates a dedicated network connection to AWS but does not monitor resource usage or assist in optimizing costs.