PAS-C01 Practice Test 5 — 25 Questions

Question 1

A company runs its SAP ERP system on AWS. The database is SAP HANA on an EC2 instance. The system is critical and requires a recovery point objective (RPO) of less than 5 minutes and a recovery time objective (RTO) of less than 2 hours. Which solution meets these requirements with the LEAST operational overhead?

Accepted Answer

Use AWS Backup with the SAP HANA Backup and Restore feature (Backint integration) to perform continuous backups to S3.. AWS Backup with the SAP HANA Backup and Restore feature (Backint integration) provides continuous, incremental backups to Amazon S3, achieving an RPO of less than 5 minutes with automated, policy-driven backups. This solution minimizes operational overhead by eliminating manual scripting and infrastructure management, while supporting point-in-time recovery within the required RTO of under 2 hours.

Answer

Use EBS snapshots of the root and data volumes taken every 5 minutes.

Answer

Set up HANA system replication across two EC2 instances in different Availability Zones with manual failover.

Answer

Schedule manual HANA backups to S3 using cron scripts and hdbsql commands.

Question 2

A company is designing a new SAP environment on AWS. The SAP application servers communicate with the database over the network. The architect wants to minimize latency and maximize throughput. Which placement strategy should the architect use?

Accepted Answer

Place all servers in a single Availability Zone and use a cluster placement group.. A cluster placement group is the correct choice because it provides the lowest possible latency and highest throughput by ensuring that all SAP application and database servers are placed in close physical proximity within a single Availability Zone. This placement minimizes network hops and leverages non-blocking, high-bandwidth networking, which is critical for SAP's latency-sensitive communication between application and database layers.

Answer

Place the application servers in one Availability Zone and the database in a different Availability Zone.

Answer

Place the application servers in one VPC and the database in a different VPC connected via VPC peering.

Answer

Place the application servers in one AWS Region and the database in another Region.

Question 3

A company has an SAP HANA database running on an EC2 instance with 1.9 TB of memory. The database requires persistent storage. The solutions architect must choose a storage configuration that provides the highest IOPS and throughput while maintaining data durability. Which storage option should the architect choose?

Accepted Answer

Use multiple io2 EBS volumes with Block Express striped together using LVM.. Option A is correct because it combines multiple io2 Block Express EBS volumes striped via LVM, which delivers the highest possible IOPS and throughput for SAP HANA on AWS. io2 Block Express volumes support up to 256,000 IOPS and 4,000 MB/s throughput per volume, and striping multiple volumes linearly scales these limits to meet the demands of a 1.9 TB memory HANA database. This configuration also ensures data durability through EBS replication within an Availability Zone, unlike instance store volumes.

Answer

Use a single io2 Block Express EBS volume of the required size.

Answer

Use multiple gp3 EBS volumes striped together with LVM.

Answer

Use NVMe instance store volumes for the HANA data and log areas.

Question 4

A company runs SAP S/4HANA on AWS with a large HANA database (10 TB). The database uses EBS gp3 volumes. The system experiences performance degradation due to high disk I/O. The architect decides to migrate to EBS io2 Block Express volumes. Which THREE factors should the architect consider when planning the migration?

Accepted Answer

The maximum IOPS per volume supported by io2 Block Express is 256,000.. Option A is correct because io2 Block Express volumes support a maximum IOPS of 256,000 per volume, which is significantly higher than the 16,000 IOPS limit of gp3. This high IOPS capability is critical for large SAP HANA databases (10 TB) that experience performance degradation due to high disk I/O, as it allows the database to handle bursty workloads without throttling.

Answer

SAP HANA supports RAID 0 across multiple io2 volumes without additional software.

Answer

io2 Block Express volumes can be attached to multiple EC2 instances simultaneously using EBS Multi-Attach.

Question 5

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 6

A company is running SAP S/4HANA on AWS. They are experiencing high read latency on their EBS volumes used for /usr/sap. Which of the following is the MOST effective way to improve read performance?

Accepted Answer

Use io2 Block Express volumes with provisioned IOPS.. The io2 Block Express volume type provides the highest durability and consistent low-latency performance for SAP workloads, with up to 256,000 provisioned IOPS per volume. For /usr/sap, which is sensitive to read latency due to frequent binary and configuration file access, io2 Block Express ensures predictable sub-millisecond latency even under high I/O demand, directly addressing the high read latency issue.

Answer

Change the volume type to gp3 with higher throughput.

Answer

Move to a larger instance type with more network bandwidth.

Answer

Configure RAID 0 across multiple volumes.

Question 7

An SAP HANA database is running on an EC2 instance with an attached gp2 volume of 500 GiB. The exhibit shows the volume attributes. The database performance is degrading during peak hours. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The volume's burst balance has been depleted due to sustained high I/O.. The correct answer is C because gp2 volumes use a burst bucket that provides credits for I/O above the baseline of 3 IOPS per GiB. For a 500 GiB volume, the baseline is 1500 IOPS. Sustained high I/O consumes burst credits, and once depleted, performance drops to baseline, causing degradation. Option A is incorrect: IOPS are not solely size-dependent; gp2 offers 3 IOPS/GiB baseline, and 500 GiB provides 1500 baseline IOPS, which may be sufficient. Option B is incorrect: EBS optimization is an EC2 instance feature, not a volume attribute; the issue is with the volume itself. Option D is incorrect: while gp3 offers higher baseline performance, the immediate cause here is burst balance depletion, not volume type.

Answer

The volume is sized too small; it needs to be at least 1 TB to provide sufficient IOPS.

Answer

The volume is not EBS-optimized.

Answer

The volume type is gp2 and should be changed to gp3 for better performance.

Question 8

A company is designing an SAP HANA database on AWS. The database requires high throughput and low latency for data volumes. Which TWO AWS features should be used to meet these requirements? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Enable EBS optimization on the EC2 instance.. Option D is correct because enabling EBS optimization on an EC2 instance dedicates network bandwidth to EBS I/O, eliminating contention between network and storage traffic, which is critical for SAP HANA's high-throughput, low-latency requirements. Option E is correct because EBS io2 Block Express volumes provide up to 256,000 IOPS per volume with sub-millisecond latency, meeting the demanding performance needs of SAP HANA data volumes.

Answer

Use EBS gp3 volumes for the HANA data volume.

Answer

Use EC2 instance store volumes for the HANA data volume.

Answer

Store HANA data on Amazon S3 with S3 Express One Zone.

Question 9

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 10

A company is designing a high-availability architecture for SAP NetWeaver on AWS. The architecture includes two application server instances in different Availability Zones, a shared file system using Amazon EFS, and a database using SAP HANA with HANA System Replication (HSR). During a failover test, the application servers cannot connect to the database after the HANA secondary becomes the primary. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The SAP application servers are configured with the hostname of the primary HANA instance, which did not update after failover.. In SAP NetWeaver, application servers connect to the database using a fixed hostname or virtual IP address. After HANA System Replication (HSR) failover, the secondary becomes the primary but retains its own hostname unless a virtual hostname (e.g., using Amazon Route 53 or Elastic IP) is configured to automatically update. If the application servers are hardcoded with the original primary's hostname, they cannot resolve or reach the new primary, causing connection failure.

Answer

HANA System Replication is not configured correctly for automatic failover.

Answer

The Amazon EFS file system is not available in the secondary Availability Zone.

Answer

The security group of the application servers does not allow outbound traffic to the secondary HANA instance.

Question 11

A company is migrating its SAP NetWeaver system to AWS and wants to implement a high-availability architecture for the SAP Central Services (ASCS) and Enqueue Replication Server (ERS). Which TWO of the following are required components in a recommended AWS HA setup for ASCS and ERS?

Accepted Answer

A shared file system (e.g., Amazon EFS) to store the SAP transport directory and global profile.. Option A is correct because in an SAP NetWeaver high-availability architecture on AWS, a shared file system such as Amazon EFS is required to store the SAP transport directory and global profile. This ensures that both the ASCS and ERS instances can access consistent configuration and transport files, which is essential for failover and cluster operations. Without a shared file system, the instances would have divergent configurations, breaking the HA setup.

Answer

An Application Load Balancer to distribute traffic between ASCS and ERS instances.

Answer

A read replica of the SAP HANA database to offload application traffic.

Answer

A secondary Windows Server Failover Cluster in a different Availability Zone.

Question 12

A company runs SAP on AWS with an SAP HANA database on an r5.8xlarge instance. The company notices high network latency between the SAP application servers and the HANA database. The application servers are in the same VPC but different subnets. Which design change would MOST effectively reduce latency?

Accepted Answer

Launch the application servers and the HANA database in the same placement group.. Option A is correct because placing both the SAP application servers and the HANA database in the same cluster placement group ensures they are in close physical proximity within a single Availability Zone, minimizing network hops and reducing latency. Placement groups achieve this by co-locating instances on the same high-bandwidth, low-latency network fabric, which is critical for SAP HANA's real-time data processing requirements.

Answer

Create a VPC peering connection between the subnets of the application servers and the database.

Answer

Change the HANA database instance type to a compute-optimized instance such as c5.9xlarge.

Answer

Enable Enhanced Networking on the application servers by attaching an Elastic Network Adapter (ENA).

Question 13

A company runs SAP Business Suite on AWS. They notice that their SAP application servers are not evenly distributing load across multiple instances. They have configured an Application Load Balancer (ALB) in front of the SAP Web Dispatchers. What is the MOST likely cause of uneven load distribution?

Accepted Answer

Sticky sessions (session stickiness) are enabled on the ALB.. When sticky sessions (session stickiness) are enabled on an Application Load Balancer, the ALB uses a cookie to bind a client's session to a specific target (SAP Web Dispatcher). This prevents the load balancer from distributing subsequent requests from that client to other healthy targets, causing an uneven distribution of load across the SAP application servers, especially if a few clients generate a disproportionate number of requests.

Answer

The ALB health check interval is too short.

Answer

Cross-zone load balancing is enabled.

Answer

The ALB is using the least outstanding requests routing algorithm.

Question 14

An operations team needs to automate the patching of EC2 instances running SAP applications. The instances are part of an Auto Scaling group. The team wants to apply patches without causing downtime to the SAP system. Which approach should they use?

Accepted Answer

Use AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager with a maintenance window and configure the Auto Scaling group to perform a rolling update. Option C is correct because AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager can be integrated with an Auto Scaling group to perform a rolling update, which updates instances in batches, ensuring that the SAP application remains available throughout the patching process. This approach minimizes downtime by replacing or updating instances incrementally rather than all at once, which is critical for SAP systems that require high availability.

Answer

Use AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager with a maintenance window that patches all instances simultaneously

Answer

Use AWS CodeDeploy to deploy patches as a new application version

Answer

Use AWS OpsWorks to manage patching, configuring a rolling update

Question 15

A company plans to migrate their SAP HANA database to AWS. They require the highest availability with automatic failover in case of an AZ failure. Which architecture should they use?

Accepted Answer

Multi-AZ with HANA System Replication in sync mode and automatic failover.. Option A is correct because it meets the requirement for highest availability with automatic failover in case of an AZ failure. HANA System Replication (HSR) in synchronous mode ensures zero data loss (RPO=0) by committing transactions only after they are replicated to the standby, and when combined with Multi-AZ deployment, it provides automatic failover across Availability Zones. This architecture is the AWS-recommended pattern for SAP HANA high availability, leveraging the AWS Multi-AZ concept with HSR's built-in automatic takeover capability.

Answer

Single AZ with HANA System Replication to a standby in the same AZ.

Answer

Single AZ with daily backups to Amazon S3.

Answer

Multi-AZ with HANA System Replication in async mode and manual failover.

Question 16

An SAP system on AWS is experiencing increased latency in database queries. The operations team suspects that the RDS for Oracle instance is hitting its maximum connections limit. Which CloudWatch metric should be monitored to confirm this?

Accepted Answer

DatabaseConnections. The DatabaseConnections metric in Amazon CloudWatch tracks the number of database sessions currently connected to the RDS for Oracle instance. When this metric approaches or reaches the value of the `max_connections` parameter (or the Oracle-specific `sessions` and `processes` limits), new connections are rejected, causing application-side latency as queries queue or fail. Monitoring this metric directly confirms whether the maximum connections limit is being hit.

Answer

CPUCreditBalance

Answer

SwapUsage

Answer

ReadIOPS

Question 17

An SAP administrator needs to review API calls made by a user who accidentally deleted an S3 bucket used for SAP backups. Which AWS service provides a record of these API calls?

Accepted Answer

AWS CloudTrail. AWS CloudTrail is the correct service because it records all API calls made to the AWS environment, including S3 bucket deletion events. When a user accidentally deletes an S3 bucket, CloudTrail captures the event details such as the user identity, source IP, and timestamp, enabling the SAP administrator to audit the action. This is essential for security analysis and operational troubleshooting in the context of SAP backups.

Answer

Amazon S3 server access logs

Answer

Amazon CloudWatch Logs

Answer

AWS Config

Question 18

Which THREE are valid steps when performing a cross-Region disaster recovery failover for SAP HANA using AWS? (Choose THREE.)

Accepted Answer

Start the SAP HANA database on the secondary instance. Option B is correct because starting the SAP HANA database on the secondary instance is a required step during a cross-Region disaster recovery failover. After promoting the secondary system replication target to primary, the SAP HANA database must be started to make it available for client connections and resume operations.

Answer

Create an EBS snapshot of the primary database volume

Answer

Stop the SAP HANA database on the primary instance

Question 19

A company runs SAP on AWS and uses AWS Backup to back up the SAP HANA database. The backup job fails with an error indicating insufficient IAM permissions. What is the most likely missing permission?

Accepted Answer

kms:Decrypt. AWS Backup requires permissions to decrypt the KMS key used to encrypt the SAP HANA database or its backup target. If the IAM role assigned to AWS Backup lacks the `kms:Decrypt` action for the specific KMS key, the backup job fails with an insufficient IAM permissions error. This is because AWS Backup must read the encrypted data before transferring it to the backup vault.

Answer

ec2:DescribeInstances

Answer

rds:CreateDBSnapshot

Answer

s3:PutObject

Question 20

A company is running SAP on AWS and needs to monitor the available memory on their SAP application servers. Which AWS service can be used to collect and visualize memory utilization metrics?

Accepted Answer

Amazon CloudWatch with CloudWatch Agent. Amazon CloudWatch with the CloudWatch Agent is the correct choice because the agent can be installed on EC2 instances to collect custom metrics, including memory utilization, which is not available by default from the hypervisor. The agent sends these metrics to CloudWatch, where you can visualize them using dashboards or set alarms. This directly addresses the need to monitor SAP application server memory on AWS.

Answer

AWS Config

Answer

Amazon Inspector

Answer

AWS CloudTrail