PAS-C01 Practice Test 15 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Your company runs SAP Business Suite on AWS. The system has a three-tier architecture with a web dispatcher, application servers, and a HANA database. The operations team has been receiving alerts about high CPU usage on the application servers during peak hours. The application servers are currently running on m5.large instances. You need to ensure consistent performance without over-provisioning. What is the most cost-effective solution?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Configure Auto Scaling with a step scaling policy based on CPU utilization. Auto Scaling with a step scaling policy based on CPU utilization dynamically adds or removes application server instances in response to load, ensuring consistent performance during peak hours without paying for over-provisioned capacity around the clock. This is the most cost-effective and operationally sound approach.

Answer

Add more application servers manually during peak hours

Answer

Upgrade all application servers to m5.xlarge instances

Answer

Use reserved instances to lower cost but keep existing instances

Question 2

Which THREE factors should be considered when sizing an EC2 instance for SAP HANA? (Choose THREE.)

Accepted Answer

Total memory available on the instance. Option A is correct because SAP HANA is an in-memory database, so the total memory available on the instance must be large enough to hold the entire working dataset in RAM, making memory the primary sizing factor. Option C is correct because only EC2 instance types that are SAP HANA certified (listed in the SAP HANA hardware directory and AWS SAP HANA certified instances) are supported for production HANA deployments, so certification must be verified before sizing. Option D is correct because HANA performance depends on adequate vCPU count for query processing and sufficient network throughput (e.g., up to 100 Gbps on larger instances) for scale-out and data replication traffic. Option B is not correct because SAP HANA does not use GPU acceleration for its core in-memory calculations; it relies on CPU and memory. Option E is not correct because HANA data resides in memory and persists to EBS or other supported storage, not to EC2 instance store, which is ephemeral and not part of HANA sizing criteria.

Answer

GPU acceleration for HANA calculations

Answer

Instance store availability for HANA data

Question 3

An SAP administrator runs the above CloudWatch Logs Insights query on an application log group. The query returns no results even though the administrator knows there are ERROR messages in the logs. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The log events are not in plain text; they are in JSON format and the ERROR string is within a JSON field.. CloudWatch Logs Insights allows filtering log events using the @message field. When logs are in JSON format, the ERROR string may be embedded within a JSON field rather than appearing as plain text in @message. A simple pattern match like /ERROR/ on @message will not match if the @message contains the entire JSON object. To search JSON logs, parse the JSON fields and filter on the parsed fields. Option A is incorrect because CloudWatch Logs Insights supports regex patterns with the '/pattern/' syntax. Option B is incorrect because the correct filter syntax uses '/pattern/', not 'like' (which is not an operator in CloudWatch Logs Insights). Option C is incorrect because while the time range could exclude errors, the most likely cause given that errors are known to exist is the JSON structure. Therefore, Option D is the correct answer.

Answer

The query uses a regex pattern that is not supported by CloudWatch Logs Insights.

Answer

The query syntax is incorrect; the filter should use 'like' instead of '/.../'.

Answer

The time range is set to a period when no ERROR messages were logged.

Question 4

A company is migrating its SAP application from on-premises to AWS. The migration plan includes rehosting the SAP application servers and re-platforming the database to Amazon RDS for SAP. Which AWS service should the company use to automate the deployment of SAP application servers?

Accepted Answer

AWS Launch Wizard for SAP. AWS Launch Wizard for SAP (Option B) is a service that automates the deployment of SAP infrastructure, including application servers. Option A (AWS OpsWorks) is for configuration management with Chef/Puppet, not SAP-specific. Option C (Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling) handles scaling, not initial deployment. Option D (AWS CloudFormation) is a general infrastructure-as-code tool but lacks SAP-specific guidance.

Answer

AWS OpsWorks

Answer

Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling

Answer

AWS CloudFormation

Question 5

An SAP system administrator needs to monitor the CPU utilization of an EC2 instance running SAP NetWeaver. The administrator wants to receive an alert when the CPU utilization exceeds 80% for 5 consecutive minutes. Which AWS service should be used to create this alarm?

Accepted Answer

Amazon CloudWatch Alarms. Amazon CloudWatch Alarms is the AWS service used to create metric-based alarms, including CPU utilization thresholds on EC2 instances. You configure an alarm on the CPUUtilization metric with a threshold of 80% and a period/datapoints-to-alarm setting of 5 consecutive minutes, then attach SNS notifications. This directly satisfies the requirement.

Answer

AWS CloudTrail

Answer

AWS Config

Answer

Amazon CloudWatch Logs

Question 6

An SAP on AWS environment includes multiple instances across Availability Zones. The operations team needs to automatically replace an unhealthy EC2 instance that is part of an SAP application cluster. Which AWS service can automatically detect and replace the instance based on health checks?

Accepted Answer

Auto Scaling group. An Auto Scaling group is designed to automatically maintain a desired number of healthy EC2 instances. It can use EC2 health checks and Elastic Load Balancing health checks to detect unhealthy instances and replace them. This is the standard AWS mechanism for self-healing instance replacement in a cluster.

Answer

Elastic Load Balancing

Answer

AWS Systems Manager Automation

Answer

Amazon CloudWatch alarms

Question 7

An SAP system administrator wants to monitor the CPU and memory usage of SAP HANA database instances. Which AWS service should be used to collect and visualize these metrics?

Accepted Answer

Amazon CloudWatch Agent. The Amazon CloudWatch Agent is installed on the SAP HANA instances to collect custom metrics such as CPU and memory usage at the OS level and publish them to CloudWatch. CloudWatch Agent is required because default CloudWatch metrics do not include memory utilization.

Answer

AWS CloudTrail

Answer

AWS Systems Manager Run Command

Answer

Amazon CloudWatch metrics

Question 8

Which TWO of the following are valid methods to monitor SAP HANA performance on AWS? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

SAP HANA Studio. Option A (SAP HANA Studio) is correct because it is SAP's native administration and monitoring client that connects directly to the HANA database (via the indexserver SQL port 3<instance>15) and provides the Administration Console with performance views such as expensive statements, memory allocation, and thread statistics. Option B (Amazon CloudWatch with the CloudWatch agent collecting HANA metrics) is correct because the CloudWatch agent can run on the EC2 instance hosting HANA, execute the HANA SQL queries defined in its configuration, and publish those database metrics as custom CloudWatch metrics for dashboards and alarms. Option C (AWS Config) is not correct because it records and evaluates AWS resource configuration changes, not in-memory database performance. Option D (Amazon Inspector) is not correct because it performs automated vulnerability and network reachability assessments, not performance monitoring. Option E (AWS Trusted Advisor) is not correct because it provides best-practice checks on cost, security, fault tolerance, and service limits, not SAP HANA performance metrics.

Answer

AWS Config

Answer

Amazon Inspector

Answer

AWS Trusted Advisor

Question 9

A company is migrating a legacy application to AWS. The application requires a static IP address that must not change after migration. Which networking component should be used to ensure the application's public IP remains consistent?

Accepted Answer

Elastic IP address. An Elastic IP address is a static public IPv4 address that can be associated with an EC2 instance or a Network Load Balancer, ensuring the application's public IP remains consistent. Option B (Internet Gateway) is used for VPC internet access but does not provide a static IP. Option C (VPC Peering) is for connecting VPCs. Option D (NAT Gateway) is for outbound traffic.

Answer

Internet Gateway

Answer

VPC Peering

Answer

NAT Gateway

Question 10

A company is migrating an SAP Business Suite system to AWS. The source database is Oracle. The target is Amazon RDS for Oracle. Which AWS service should be used to automate the schema conversion and data migration?

Accepted Answer

Both AWS SCT and AWS DMS. Schema conversion is handled by AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT) and data migration with minimal downtime is handled by AWS Database Migration Service (DMS). Option A is wrong because SCT alone does not migrate data. Option C is wrong because AWS Application Discovery Service is used for discovery, not migration. Option D is wrong because DMS alone does not convert schemas.

Answer

AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT)

Answer

AWS Application Discovery Service

Answer

AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)

Question 11

An SAP system on AWS is experiencing performance issues. The system uses a shared file system (SAP transport directory) mounted from an NFS server. During migration, the team wants to improve performance and reduce complexity. Which AWS service should replace the NFS server?

Accepted Answer

Amazon EFS. Amazon EFS provides a fully managed NFS file system that can be shared across multiple EC2 instances, making it an ideal replacement for the NFS server in SAP transport directory scenarios. Option A (Amazon S3 with S3FS) is incorrect because S3 is object storage and S3FS is a FUSE-based tool that adds complexity and can cause performance issues, not suitable for SAP transport. Option B (Amazon FSx for Windows File Server) is incorrect because it uses SMB protocol, while SAP transport directories typically require NFS and run on Linux instances. Option C (AWS Storage Gateway file gateway) adds unnecessary complexity as it is designed for hybrid storage and caching, not as a direct NFS replacement for this use case.

Answer

Amazon S3 with S3FS

Answer

Amazon FSx for Windows File Server

Answer

AWS Storage Gateway (file gateway)

Question 12

A company is running SAP on AWS and wants to implement encryption at rest for all data. The company uses AWS KMS with Customer Managed Keys (CMKs) for the EBS volumes. The SAP application servers need to access an S3 bucket that contains sensitive data. How should the company ensure that the S3 bucket is encrypted with the same CMK?

Accepted Answer

Configure the S3 bucket to use SSE-KMS with the same CMK. SSE-KMS (Server-Side Encryption with AWS KMS) allows you to specify a Customer Managed Key (CMK) to encrypt objects in S3. By configuring the S3 bucket to use the same CMK that is already used for EBS volumes, the company ensures a unified encryption key strategy for all data at rest, meeting the requirement for consistent encryption across services.

Answer

Use client-side encryption before uploading to S3

Answer

Add a bucket policy that denies if encryption is not present

Answer

Enable default encryption on the S3 bucket with SSE-S3

Question 13

An organization runs SAP on AWS and needs to ensure that their SAP HANA database backups are encrypted at rest. Which AWS service should they use to manage the encryption keys?

Accepted Answer

AWS Key Management Service (KMS). AWS KMS is the managed service for creating, rotating, and controlling customer master keys (CMKs) used to encrypt data at rest, including SAP HANA backups stored in S3, EBS snapshots, or Backint-managed storage. KMS integrates natively with AWS Backup, EBS, S3, and SAP-certified backup tools, and provides CloudTrail-auditable key usage. CloudHSM is for dedicated single-tenant HSM requirements, IAM handles authorization not encryption, and Certificate Manager handles TLS certificates, not data-at-rest keys.

Answer

AWS CloudHSM

Answer

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Answer

AWS Certificate Manager

Question 14

A company is using SAP HANA on AWS and needs to back up the database to Amazon S3. The backup must be encrypted at rest in S3. The company already uses AWS KMS for encryption. What is the MOST secure way to configure the backup?

Accepted Answer

Use SSE-KMS with a customer managed key and restrict key usage with key policies.. Using SSE-KMS with a customer managed key allows you to enforce granular key policies, including restricting key usage to specific IAM roles or conditions, and enables audit trails via AWS CloudTrail. This provides the highest level of control and security for encrypting SAP HANA backups at rest in S3, meeting the requirement for the most secure configuration.

Answer

Use client-side encryption before uploading to S3.

Answer

Enable default S3 encryption with SSE-S3.

Answer

Use SSE-KMS with the AWS managed key for S3.

Question 15

An SAP administrator needs to monitor the CPU utilization of an SAP application server EC2 instance and send an alert if it exceeds 80% for 5 consecutive minutes. Which AWS service should be used?

Accepted Answer

Amazon CloudWatch Alarm. Amazon CloudWatch Alarm is the correct service because it can monitor EC2 instance metrics such as CPUUtilization, evaluate them against a threshold (80%), and trigger actions like Amazon SNS notifications when the condition is met for a specified number of consecutive periods (5 minutes). CloudWatch natively collects EC2 metrics at 1-minute intervals (detailed monitoring) or 5-minute intervals (basic monitoring), making it the appropriate tool for this alerting requirement.

Answer

AWS CloudTrail

Answer

VPC Flow Logs

Answer

AWS Config