What should a solutions architect do to accomplish this?
Use AWS Config rules to define and detect resources that are not properly tagged.
Use Cost Explorer to display resources that are not properly tagged. Tag those resources manually.
Write API calls to check all resources for proper tag allocation. Periodically run the code on an EC2 instance.
Write API calls to check all resources for proper tag allocation. Schedule an AWS Lambda function through Amazon CloudWatch to periodically run the code.
Explanations:
AWS Config provides managed rules to automatically evaluate resource configurations, including checking for required tags. It minimizes the manual effort needed to track resources and ensures compliance continuously.
Cost Explorer is used for cost analysis and reporting, not for ensuring proper resource tagging. It does not help automate or enforce tagging compliance.
Writing API calls to check resource tags manually is inefficient and requires ongoing manual effort. Running such checks on an EC2 instance would not be scalable or automated effectively.
While writing API calls and scheduling them through Lambda is a viable approach, it requires custom code and more maintenance than using AWS Config, which is designed for such use cases and provides automated tag compliance checks.
If I had to guess, I’d say the answer is:
Use AWS Config rules to define and detect resources that are not properly tagged.