PAS-C01 Practice Exam 2 — 20 Questions

Question 1

A company uses SAP NetWeaver with an Oracle database on EC2. The operations team wants to automate the patching of the operating system while ensuring minimal downtime. Which AWS Systems Manager capability should be used?

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

Accepted Answer

AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager. AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager is the capability designed to automate the process of patching operating systems and applications across EC2 instances and on-premises servers. It uses patch baselines, maintenance windows, and compliance reporting to apply patches with controlled timing, which directly addresses the requirement to automate OS patching with minimal downtime.

Answer

AWS Systems Manager Automation

Answer

AWS Systems Manager Run Command

Answer

AWS Systems Manager OpsCenter

Question 2

A company runs its SAP landscape on AWS and uses an Application Load Balancer (ALB) to distribute traffic to multiple web dispatchers. The operations team notices that some requests are failing with 503 errors. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The target group health checks are failing, causing the ALB to mark instances as unhealthy.. An ALB returns HTTP 503 (Service Unavailable) when no healthy targets are available in the target group to receive the request. If the target group health checks are failing — due to misconfigured health check paths, ports, or unhealthy web dispatcher instances — the ALB marks all targets as unhealthy and returns 503 to clients. This is the most common cause of 503 errors behind an ALB.

Answer

The security groups for the ALB are blocking incoming traffic.

Answer

The SSL certificate on the ALB has expired.

Answer

The CloudFront distribution in front of the ALB is misconfigured.

Question 3

Which TWO AWS services can be used to monitor the performance of an SAP system running on EC2?

Accepted Answer

Amazon CloudWatch. Amazon CloudWatch (C) is correct because it collects and tracks performance metrics such as CPU utilization, disk I/O, and network throughput from EC2 instances running SAP, and can trigger alarms based on thresholds. Amazon CloudWatch Logs (D) is correct because it centralizes, stores, and monitors SAP application and OS logs from EC2 instances, enabling metric filters and alarms on log data for performance and error detection. AWS CloudTrail (A) only records API activity and audit events, not runtime performance metrics. AWS Shield (B) is a DDoS protection service and does not monitor SAP performance. AWS Config (E) tracks resource configuration changes and compliance, not performance monitoring.

Answer

AWS CloudTrail

Answer

AWS Shield

Answer

AWS Config

Question 4

Which THREE metrics should be monitored to ensure the health of an SAP NetWeaver application server? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Memory utilization. Memory utilization (A) is a core health metric for an SAP NetWeaver application server because the ABAP/Java stack relies on shared memory, heap, and extended memory; exhaustion leads to dumps, short dumps, or instance crashes, so it must be tracked via tools like SM04, ST06, or the SAP Management Console. CPU utilization (C) is essential because sustained high CPU on the application server indicates overloaded work processes, expensive reports, or runaway programs, and is monitored through ST06/OS-level collectors to prevent response-time degradation. Work process utilization (D) is critical since SAP NetWeaver dispatches requests to dialog, background, update, enqueue, and spool work processes; if all are busy, users queue or get 'no work process available' errors, so monitoring via SM50/SM66 is mandatory. Database connection count (B) is not one of the three primary application-server health metrics in this context, as it relates more to the database layer and is typically covered by DBA Cockpit rather than the app server itself. Network packet loss (E) is a network-layer metric that, while relevant to overall performance, is not one of the standard three SAP NetWeaver application server health indicators asked for here.

Answer

Database connection count

Answer

Network packet loss

Question 5

A company is migrating a legacy .NET application to AWS. The application uses Windows Authentication and relies on Active Directory for user authentication. The company wants to minimize changes to the application code. Which AWS service should be used to integrate Active Directory with the migrated application?

Accepted Answer

AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory. AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory is the correct choice because it provides a fully managed Microsoft Active Directory in the AWS cloud, which natively supports Windows Authentication and Kerberos-based authentication without requiring any code changes. This service allows the migrated .NET application to seamlessly integrate with the existing on-premises Active Directory through a trust relationship or by extending the directory directly into AWS, preserving the application's authentication logic.

Answer

Amazon Cognito

Answer

AD Connector

Answer

Simple AD

Question 6

A company is planning to migrate its SAP ERP system to AWS. The database is SAP HANA with a size of 3 TB. The company wants to minimize downtime during the migration. Which migration strategy should the company use?

Accepted Answer

Use HANA System Replication to replicate the database to an EC2 instance running HANA in the target AWS environment, then perform a takeover.. HANA System Replication (HSR) is the optimal strategy for minimizing downtime because it continuously replicates data from the on-premises HANA database to an EC2 instance running HANA in AWS. When the migration window opens, a simple takeover (failover) occurs, typically completing in minutes, which meets the requirement for minimal downtime. This approach avoids the lengthy export/import or backup/restore processes that would take hours for a 3 TB database.

Answer

Export the HANA database to flat files using SAP HANA Studio, upload the files to Amazon S3, and import them into an EC2 HANA instance.

Answer

Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication to migrate the database to Amazon RDS for SAP HANA.

Answer

Use AWS Backup to take a full backup of the on-premises HANA database and restore it to an EC2 instance in AWS.

Question 7

A company is migrating an SAP ERP system to AWS using an SAP-certified backup/restore method. After restoring the database to Amazon RDS for SAP ASE, the SAP application fails to start with an error 'database connection refused'. The security group allows inbound traffic from the application server. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The SAP application is using the wrong database hostname or port. After restoring the database to Amazon RDS, the database endpoint (hostname and port) changes. The SAP application likely still uses the old connection parameters, leading to a 'connection refused' error. Option A is incorrect because, although a stopped RDS instance would also cause this error, after a restore the instance is automatically started and running; a stopped state is unlikely. Option B is incorrect because outbound traffic rules are not required for inbound connections; the inbound rule on the database security group is sufficient. Option D is incorrect because different VPCs would typically result in 'no route to host' or timeout errors, not 'connection refused'.

Answer

The RDS instance is in a 'stopped' state

Answer

The security group does not allow outbound traffic

Answer

The RDS instance is in a different VPC than the application server

Question 8

A company is migrating a legacy three-tier web application to AWS. The application uses a MySQL database and stores session data in the database. The company wants to minimize database load and improve scalability. Which TWO actions should the company take to achieve these goals?

Accepted Answer

Use Amazon ElastiCache to store session data instead of the database.. Storing session data in the database creates unnecessary write load and latency. Amazon ElastiCache (Memcached or Redis) provides an in-memory key-value store that is ideal for transient session data, reducing database load and improving application scalability by offloading session management from the persistent MySQL layer.

Answer

Configure Amazon RDS Multi-AZ for high availability.

Answer

Use Auto Scaling for the web server tier to handle variable traffic.

Answer

Use Amazon RDS read replicas to offload read traffic from the primary database.

Question 9

A company is designing a high availability architecture for SAP HANA on AWS. The primary HANA database runs on an EC2 instance in Availability Zone A. The company wants to implement a standby HANA database in Availability Zone B with automatic failover. Which AWS service should be used to orchestrate the failover?

Accepted Answer

SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension. For automatic failover of SAP HANA on AWS, a cluster management solution that supports HANA system replication is required. SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension is a validated and supported option that provides the necessary resource agents and orchestration to promote a standby HANA instance and update the SAP application layer, ensuring a reliable failover process.

Answer

AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery

Answer

Amazon Route 53 with health checks

Answer

AWS Systems Manager Automation

Question 10

An IAM policy is attached to a user who manages SAP HANA volumes. The policy is shown in the exhibit. What is the effect of this policy?

Accepted Answer

The user can attach and detach volumes that have the tag Environment=production, but cannot delete any volume.. The first statement allows ec2:AttachVolume and ec2:DetachVolume only if the volume has tag Environment=production. The second statement denies ec2:DeleteVolume for all volumes. Therefore, the user can attach and detach volumes that have the tag Environment=production, but cannot delete any volume. Option A is incorrect because attach/detach are allowed only with the condition. Option B is incorrect because delete is denied for all volumes. Option D is incorrect because the allow statement is conditional on the specific tag value, not just the production environment.

Answer

The user can attach and detach any volume regardless of tags.

Answer

The user can delete any volume.

Answer

The user can attach and detach any volume in the production environment.

Question 11

An SAP workload on AWS uses an Auto Scaling group for the SAP Central Services (ASCS) and Enqueue Replication Server (ERS) instances. The instances are launched with a custom AMI that includes the SAP software. During a recent failover test, the ASCS instance failed to start after being terminated and re-launched by the Auto Scaling group. The error log indicates that the ASCS instance cannot find the quorum device. What is the most likely cause of this issue?

Accepted Answer

The quorum device (EBS volume) was not re-attached or was not available in the same Availability Zone as the new ASCS instance.. In an SAP on AWS high-availability setup, the ASCS and ERS instances rely on a shared quorum device (typically an EBS volume or an Amazon EFS file system) to maintain cluster state and prevent split-brain scenarios. When the Auto Scaling group terminates and re-launches the ASCS instance, the new instance must have the quorum device attached and be in the same Availability Zone as the EBS volume (since EBS volumes are AZ-specific). If the quorum device is not re-attached or is in a different AZ, the SAP cluster cannot find it, causing the ASCS instance to fail to start.

Answer

The instance type of the new ASCS instance is different from the original, causing incompatibility with the SAP kernel.

Answer

The ASCS instance does not have a public IP address, preventing communication with the quorum device.

Answer

The Security Group associated with the ASCS instance does not allow inbound traffic on the quorum port.

Question 12

A company runs SAP on AWS and uses a custom AMI for their EC2 instances. They want to ensure that all instances launched from this AMI automatically have the SAP host agent installed and configured. What is the most efficient way to achieve this?

Accepted Answer

Create a new AMI that includes the SAP host agent pre-installed and configured.. Baking the SAP host agent into the AMI ensures that every instance launched from that AMI automatically has the agent installed and configured with no additional steps. This is the most efficient approach as it avoids post-launch configuration, reduces potential failure points, and ensures consistency.

Answer

Use AWS Systems Manager Run Command to install the agent after launch.

Answer

Use a user data script that installs and configures the SAP host agent at instance launch.

Answer

Use AWS CodeDeploy to automatically deploy the agent to new instances.

Question 13

A company is running a critical SAP application on SAP HANA in an AWS Single-AZ deployment. The application has experienced downtime twice in the last month due to underlying hardware failures. What is the MOST cost-effective solution to minimize future downtime without compromising performance?

Accepted Answer

Deploy the SAP HANA database in a Multi-AZ configuration using SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) across Availability Zones.. Deploying SAP HANA in a Multi-AZ configuration using SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) across Availability Zones provides synchronous replication and automatic failover in case of hardware failure. This minimizes downtime without requiring a larger instance or manual intervention, and maintains performance by using the same instance type and storage configuration as the primary.

Answer

Move the SAP HANA instance to a larger instance type to improve hardware reliability.

Answer

Use Dedicated Hosts to ensure physical isolation from other AWS customers.

Answer

Implement automated snapshots of the SAP HANA data volume and restore in case of failure.

Question 14

A company runs SAP HANA on AWS using a clustered environment with two EC2 instances in an active/passive configuration. The cluster uses a shared EFS file system for the SAP HANA shared volume. The operations team recently migrated the EFS file system from the previous generation to Elastic Throughput mode to improve performance. After the migration, the HANA database becomes unresponsive intermittently. The team notices that the EFS mount target is in a different Availability Zone than the active HANA instance. What is the most likely cause of the unresponsiveness?

Accepted Answer

The EFS mount target is in a different Availability Zone than the active HANA instance, causing high latency and potential timeouts.. EFS mount targets are Availability Zone-specific, and cross-AZ access introduces additional network latency and potential timeouts. For a latency-sensitive workload like SAP HANA, which requires low-latency shared storage, mounting an EFS file system from a different AZ than the active HANA instance causes intermittent unresponsiveness due to increased round-trip times and possible packet loss.

Answer

The EFS file system does not provide sufficient IOPS for HANA workloads.

Answer

The EFS Elastic Throughput mode is throttling the HANA database traffic.

Answer

The EFS file system has reached its maximum number of concurrent connections.

Question 15

An SAP system on AWS is experiencing performance degradation. The SAP administrator wants to monitor the EC2 instance's CPU utilization and memory usage. Which AWS service should be used to collect memory metrics?

Accepted Answer

Amazon CloudWatch Agent. Amazon CloudWatch by default collects only basic metrics like CPU utilization, not memory usage. The Amazon CloudWatch Agent is required to collect custom metrics such as memory utilization from EC2 instances by sending data to CloudWatch via the PutMetricData API. This agent can be installed on the SAP EC2 instance to capture both CPU and memory metrics for performance monitoring.

Answer

Amazon CloudWatch (default metrics)

Answer

AWS Systems Manager Inventory

Answer

AWS Trusted Advisor

Question 16

Which TWO options are valid strategies for backing up an SAP HANA database running on Amazon EC2? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Use SAP HANA Backint to back up to Amazon S3.. Option B is correct because SAP HANA's Backint API integrates with external backup tools, and on AWS you can configure Backint to write full, differential, and log backups directly to Amazon S3, which is a supported and durable target for HANA backups on EC2. Option C is correct because AWS Backup can orchestrate EBS snapshots of the EBS volumes holding HANA data and log files, providing crash-consistent volume-level backups that can be scheduled and retained per backup plan. Option A is wrong because Amazon RDS is a managed database service and does not host or back up SAP HANA, which runs on EC2 as a self-managed database. Option D is wrong because S3 Lifecycle policies only transition or expire objects already stored in S3; they are not themselves a backup strategy for HANA and cannot create the backups. Option E is wrong because EC2 instance store is ephemeral, non-persistent storage that loses data on instance stop, termination, or hardware failure, so it cannot serve as a reliable backup target.

Answer

Use Amazon RDS automated backups for SAP HANA.

Answer

Use Amazon S3 Lifecycle policies to transition HANA backups to Glacier.

Answer

Use EC2 instance store to copy HANA data files.

Question 17

A company runs SAP Business Suite on AWS with a large SAP HANA database. They observe high memory utilization and need to scale up. Which instance type should they choose to provide the highest memory capacity for SAP HANA?

Accepted Answer

u-12tb1.112xlarge. The u-12tb1.112xlarge is the correct choice because it is part of AWS's bare metal 'u' instance family, specifically designed for large in-memory databases like SAP HANA, offering up to 12 TB of RAM. This instance type provides the highest memory capacity among AWS instances, making it suitable for scaling up SAP HANA when high memory utilization is observed.

Answer

r5.24xlarge

Answer

x1e.32xlarge

Answer

m5.24xlarge

Question 18

A company runs SAP Business Suite on AWS. They plan to use the SAP Landscape Management (LaMa) connector to automate system copy and relocation. What is a prerequisite for using the AWS LaMa connector?

Accepted Answer

An IAM role with permissions for EC2, EBS, and CloudFormation actions. The AWS LaMa connector automates SAP system copy and relocation by orchestrating EC2, EBS, and CloudFormation actions. An IAM role with permissions for these services is required so that LaMa can programmatically manage infrastructure resources (e.g., stop/start instances, snapshot volumes, create CloudFormation stacks) without manual intervention. This role is assumed by the LaMa connector when executing workflows.

Answer

An EC2 Auto Scaling group configured for the SAP application tier

Answer

AWS Systems Manager managed instances for all SAP servers

Answer

SSH keys for all SAP instances to allow LaMa to connect

Question 19

An SAP HANA database is running on an r5.8xlarge instance. The administrator notices high swap usage and suspects memory pressure. Which AWS metric should be monitored to confirm memory utilization?

Accepted Answer

CWAgent namespace metrics. The CWAgent namespace metrics are correct because the CloudWatch agent, when installed on the EC2 instance, can capture detailed OS-level memory utilization metrics (such as `mem_used_percent` and `mem_available_percent`) that are not available in the default EC2 or EBS namespaces. This allows the administrator to directly confirm memory pressure causing high swap usage on the SAP HANA database.

Answer

AWS/Lambda namespace metrics

Answer

EC2 namespace metrics

Answer

EBS namespace metrics

Question 20

An SAP administrator is planning a Disaster Recovery (DR) strategy for SAP HANA on AWS. The DR site is in a different AWS Region. Which AWS service can replicate SAP HANA data to the DR region with low Recovery Point Objective (RPO)?

Accepted Answer

SAP HANA System Replication with log shipping. SAP HANA System Replication with log shipping is the correct choice because it provides near-synchronous or synchronous replication of HANA data and transaction logs to a secondary system in another AWS Region, enabling a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of seconds or even zero data loss. This native HANA feature is optimized for SAP workloads and integrates directly with HANA's persistence layer, making it the most suitable DR method for low RPO requirements.

Answer

Amazon EBS snapshots copied to the DR region

Answer

AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication

Answer

Amazon S3 cross-region replication