Use filter expressions in the AWS X-Ray console to search by annotation values and Call the GetTraceSummaries API with a filter expression to retrieve trace IDs and indexed annotations are the correct choices. These options use X‑Ray annotation indexing so you can quickly include or exclude requests by annotation while reviewing recent traces with minimal setup.

Use filter expressions in the AWS X-Ray console to search by annotation values lets you interactively filter traces in the console for the last 90 minutes and apply expressions that match annotation keys and values. The console query is fast because annotations are indexed and you can immediately view or drill into matching traces without exporting data.

Call the GetTraceSummaries API with a filter expression to retrieve trace IDs and indexed annotations gives a programmatic way to run the same indexed queries. GetTraceSummaries returns matching trace IDs and summary metadata so you can quickly find relevant traces or hand off IDs to the console or a follow up BatchGetTraces call when you need full trace documents.

Export trace data to Amazon S3 and analyze it with Amazon Athena is unnecessary for a quick investigation because it requires configuring exports and query schemas which adds setup and latency compared with using X‑Ray's built in indexing and console filters.

Adjust X-Ray sampling rules to only record requests that include those annotations is about what gets recorded going forward and does not let you filter the existing recorded traces. Sampling changes capture behavior and is not a substitute for indexed querying of current traces.

Use the BatchGetTraces API to download full trace documents and filter them client-side is heavier because it requires fetching full trace documents and performing client side filtering. BatchGetTraces does not provide server side annotation filtering so it is less efficient for quick searches by annotation.

Full AWS Practitioner Certification Question