PAS-C01 Practice Test 32 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company is deploying a new SAP S/4HANA system on AWS using a scale-out architecture with multiple SAP HANA tenant databases. The SAP Basis team needs to ensure that the SAP HANA system ID (SID) and tenant databases are properly isolated and can be managed independently. Which AWS resource should be used to provide dedicated, high-performance block storage for each SAP HANA tenant while allowing independent snapshot-based backups?

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

Accepted Answer

Amazon EBS volumes attached to the EC2 instance, with one set per tenant. For SAP HANA on AWS, Amazon EBS volumes are the recommended storage for data and log volumes because they offer persistent, high-performance block storage with configurable IOPS and throughput. In a scale-out or multi-tenant scenario, dedicating separate EBS volume sets per tenant ensures isolation and enables independent snapshot backups. This design meets SAP's performance and availability requirements, unlike shared file systems or object storage. Instance store, while fast, lacks persistence and is unsuitable for production databases.

Answer

Instance store volumes on the EC2 instance

Answer

Amazon S3 bucket mounted as a file system using s3fs

Answer

Amazon EFS file system mounted on each EC2 instance

Question 2

An SAP Basis administrator is designing a backup strategy for an SAP HANA database running on an Amazon EC2 instance with EBS volumes. The database is 2 TB in size, and the company requires a recovery point objective (RPO) of 15 minutes and a recovery time objective (RTO) of 2 hours. The backup must be stored durably and be restorable to any point in time within the last 7 days. Which combination of AWS services and features should be used to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Use SAP HANA's native backup and recovery with continuous redo log backups to Amazon S3, and take periodic full data backups to S3 using HANA's backint interface with an AWS-certified backup solution.. SAP HANA's native backup and recovery mechanisms, combined with continuous redo log backups to Amazon S3, provide the required 15-minute RPO and 7-day point-in-time recovery. Using backint with an AWS-certified backup solution ensures that full data backups are application-consistent and stored durably in S3. EBS snapshots alone do not provide application consistency or the granularity needed for a 15-minute RPO. This approach is also cost-effective and scalable.

Answer

Use AWS Backup to create daily snapshots of the EBS volumes and enable point-in-time recovery (PITR) for the HANA database using the HANA backup catalog.

Answer

Enable SAP HANA's automatic log backup to an Amazon S3 bucket, and use AWS Backup to take EBS snapshots of the data and log volumes at least every 15 minutes.

Answer

Configure SAP HANA to write redo log backups to an Amazon S3 bucket every 15 minutes, and use AWS Storage Gateway to snapshot the EBS volumes hourly.

Question 3

A company is deploying SAP S/4HANA on AWS using a scale-out architecture with multiple application servers and a single HANA database. They need to ensure that the SAP application servers can communicate with the HANA database with the lowest possible latency and highest throughput. The HANA database is running on an x1e.32xlarge EC2 instance in a private subnet. Which network configuration should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Place the application servers and the HANA database in a cluster placement group within a single Availability Zone and enable enhanced networking with ENA.. A cluster placement group within a single Availability Zone places instances on closely located hardware, reducing network latency and increasing throughput. When combined with ENA-enabled instances, this provides the optimal network performance for SAP application servers communicating with a HANA database. Other options either increase latency or do not address the low-latency requirement.

Answer

Place the application servers and the HANA database in a spread placement group across multiple Availability Zones and enable enhanced networking with ENA.

Answer

Place the application servers and the HANA database in the same VPC but different subnets, and enable jumbo frames on all instances.

Answer

Place the application servers and the HANA database in the same subnet and enable enhanced networking with Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) on all instances.

Question 4

A company is designing the storage layout for a new SAP HANA scale-up deployment on AWS using a single EC2 instance with multiple EBS volumes. The SAP Basis team must ensure that the storage configuration meets SAP performance requirements and survives an instance stop and start. Which TWO design choices should be implemented? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Configure the EBS volumes with the same Availability Zone as the instance and ensure they are reattached to the instance after a stop and start.. SAP HANA storage design requires separate file systems for data, log, and shared so each can be provisioned for its own I/O characteristics, and EBS volumes must reside in the same Availability Zone as the instance so they can be reattached after a stop and start. Combining file systems on one volume or using unsupported file systems undermines performance and supportability, and Multi-Attach is not valid for HANA data or log volumes.

Answer

Use a single large io2 volume formatted with XFS and mount it at /hana, placing all HANA file systems under that one mount point to simplify management.

Answer

Enable EBS Multi-Attach on the /hana/data volume so that a second instance can mount the same volume during a failover event.

Answer

Format the /hana/log volume with the ext3 file system because it provides lower overhead than XFS for small synchronous writes.

Question 5

An organization is migrating a legacy Windows-based .NET application to AWS. The application currently uses IIS and SQL Server on a single server. They want to minimize changes to the application code. Which migration strategy is most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

Rehost the application on Amazon EC2 with the same OS and database. Rehosting (lift-and-shift) involves moving the application to AWS as-is, typically using Amazon EC2, which minimizes code changes. Option B is correct. Option A (Replatform) would involve moving to Amazon RDS for SQL Server and Elastic Beanstalk, which may require some configuration changes. Option C (Refactor) would require significant code changes to adopt microservices. Option D (Repurchase) means buying a new SaaS product, which is not minimal change.

Answer

Replatform by moving to Amazon RDS for SQL Server and Elastic Beanstalk

Answer

Refactor the application to use a microservices architecture

Answer

Repurchase by moving to a SaaS-based application

Question 6

A company is running a high-availability SAP HANA setup on AWS using SAP HANA system replication (HSR) with automatic failover. The primary and secondary HANA instances are in separate Availability Zones within the same AWS Region. The company wants to ensure that the failover process is as fast as possible and that the secondary instance is always ready to take over. Which configuration should be implemented to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Configure HSR in synchronous mode with full sync and use an overlay IP address for the HANA instance. For SAP HANA high availability with fast failover and zero data loss, HSR should be configured in synchronous mode with full sync. This ensures that the secondary is always in sync. Using an overlay IP address allows clients to reconnect seamlessly after failover. Other options either introduce data loss risk or are not supported for SAP HANA.

Answer

Configure HSR in synchronous mode but without full sync, and use a Network Load Balancer to distribute connections

Answer

Configure HSR in asynchronous mode with log shipping every 5 minutes

Answer

Use Amazon EBS multi-attach volumes for the HANA data and log volumes shared between primary and secondary

Question 7

A company runs its SAP application on EC2 instances in a private subnet. The SAP application needs to access an on-premises database through a VPN connection. The company wants to improve network performance and reduce latency between the SAP application and the on-premises database. Which action should the company take?

Accepted Answer

Set up AWS Direct Connect between the VPC and on-premises data center.. AWS Direct Connect provides a dedicated, private network connection between on-premises and AWS that bypasses the public internet, offering more consistent latency, higher bandwidth, and lower jitter than a VPN. For an SAP application accessing an on-premises database, Direct Connect significantly improves network performance and reduces latency compared to a VPN tunnel over the internet.

Answer

Increase the VPN tunnel bandwidth to 10 Gbps.

Answer

Create a VPC Peering connection to the on-premises network.

Answer

Add a NAT Gateway to the private subnet.

Question 8

A company is migrating an SAP HANA database to AWS. The database is 2 TB in size and requires high availability across two Availability Zones. The company wants to minimize recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO). Which AWS service should be used to replicate the HANA database to a secondary Availability Zone with near-zero data loss?

Accepted Answer

SAP HANA system replication (HSR) with synchronous mode.. To achieve high availability for SAP HANA across Availability Zones with minimal RTO and RPO, SAP HANA system replication (HSR) in synchronous mode is the appropriate solution. HSR replicates transactions in real time to a secondary HANA instance, ensuring near-zero data loss. When combined with a cluster solution, it can also provide automatic failover, minimizing downtime. Other options do not provide the required level of replication for a live HANA database.

Answer

AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (DRS) with continuous replication.

Answer

AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) with change data capture (CDC).

Answer

Amazon S3 Cross-Region Replication (CRR) of HANA backups.

Question 9

A company runs an SAP NetWeaver application server on a single EC2 instance in a single Availability Zone. The company wants to improve the availability of the application server by distributing it across multiple Availability Zones. Which AWS service should be used to distribute incoming SAP GUI and web traffic across multiple application server instances?

Accepted Answer

Network Load Balancer (NLB) with a target group containing the application server instances.. To distribute SAP GUI and web traffic across multiple application server instances in different Availability Zones, a Network Load Balancer is the appropriate choice. It operates at the transport layer, supports the TCP-based SAP protocols, and can perform health checks to ensure traffic is routed only to healthy instances. This improves the availability of the SAP NetWeaver application servers. Other services either operate at the wrong layer or do not provide the required load balancing within a VPC.

Answer

AWS Global Accelerator with endpoint groups for each application server.

Answer

Application Load Balancer (ALB) with path-based routing rules.

Answer

Amazon Route 53 with latency-based routing.

Question 10

A company runs its SAP HANA database on an Amazon EC2 X1e instance in a single Availability Zone. The database must be highly available with an automatic failover to a standby instance in a second Availability Zone. The company wants to minimize the recovery time objective (RTO) and ensure that the standby node has the same data as the primary at all times. Which solution should a SAP on AWS specialist recommend?

Accepted Answer

Use SAP HANA system replication in sync mode with a Pacemaker cluster that manages an Amazon EC2 overlay IP address and uses a STONITH mechanism based on Amazon EC2 instance tags.. The correct solution is to use SAP HANA system replication in sync mode combined with a Pacemaker cluster that manages an overlay IP and uses STONITH based on EC2 instance tags. This is the SAP-certified high-availability pattern for SAP HANA on AWS. Sync mode ensures no data loss, and Pacemaker provides automatic failover, minimizing RTO. Other options either do not support cross-AZ HA, lack proper fencing, or are designed for disaster recovery rather than continuous availability.

Answer

Use AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery to continuously replicate the primary EC2 instance to a standby instance in another Availability Zone, and configure a Route 53 failover routing policy.

Answer

Configure SAP HANA system replication in sync mode between the two EC2 instances and use an overlay IP address managed by Amazon Route 53 health checks to redirect clients.

Answer

Deploy the SAP HANA database on an Amazon EBS Multi-Attach volume and attach it to both EC2 instances, using a cluster file system for concurrent access.

Question 11

A company is migrating an SAP NetWeaver application to AWS and plans to use an Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP file system for the shared /sapmnt directory. The application servers run on Amazon EC2 instances in multiple Availability Zones. The company requires that the file system be highly available and that the data be automatically replicated across Availability Zones. Which FSx for NetApp ONTAP deployment type should be used?

Accepted Answer

Multi-AZ deployment with automatic failover to a standby file server in a second Availability Zone.. The Multi-AZ deployment type for Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP is designed to provide high availability by automatically replicating data to a standby file server in a second Availability Zone. If the active file server or its AZ fails, FSx automatically fails over to the standby, ensuring continuous access to the shared /sapmnt directory. This meets the requirement for automatic cross-AZ replication and high availability for SAP NetWeaver.

Answer

Single-AZ deployment with a backup and restore strategy using AWS Backup.

Answer

Single-AZ deployment with a read-only replica in a second Availability Zone using NetApp SnapMirror.

Answer

Multi-AZ deployment with a cluster of two active file servers that serve data concurrently from both Availability Zones.

Question 12

A company is running SAP HANA on AWS with system replication between two Availability Zones for high availability. They want to minimize recovery time objective (RTO) in case of a failover. Which configuration should be implemented to achieve the lowest RTO?

Accepted Answer

Configure SAP HANA system replication in sync mode with logreplay operation mode and enable automatic failover using an overlay IP address.. To minimize RTO in SAP HANA system replication, the secondary site must be able to take over quickly with minimal data loss. Sync mode ensures that all data is replicated before the primary commits, so the secondary is always up-to-date. Logreplay operation mode allows the secondary to replay logs in memory, reducing takeover time. Automatic failover using an overlay IP address (e.g., via Pacemaker) eliminates manual steps, further reducing RTO. This is the recommended configuration for high availability on AWS.

Answer

Configure SAP HANA system replication in sync mode with delta_datashipping operation mode and automatic failover using AWS Lambda.

Answer

Configure SAP HANA system replication in async mode with delta_datashipping operation mode and manual failover.

Answer

Configure SAP HANA system replication in async mode with logreplay operation mode and automatic failover using an overlay IP address.

Question 13

A company runs an SAP NetWeaver ABAP system on AWS. The SAP application servers are on EC2 instances in a private subnet, and the SAP HANA database is on a separate EC2 instance in another private subnet. The security team requires that all traffic between the application servers and the database be encrypted in transit and that the database only accepts connections from the application servers. Which combination of AWS features should the company use to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Configure a security group for the database that allows inbound traffic only from the application servers' security group, and enable SAP HANA secure communication (TLS/SSL) for the database connections.. Security group referencing allows the database's security group to permit inbound traffic only from the application servers' security group, ensuring that only those instances can connect. Enabling SAP HANA secure communication (TLS/SSL) encrypts the data in transit between the application servers and the database. This combination meets both the network restriction and encryption requirements without exposing the database to the internet.

Answer

Set up a VPN connection between the application servers and the database, and use IPsec to encrypt traffic. Restrict access using a network ACL that allows only the application servers' subnet CIDR.

Answer

Use AWS PrivateLink to create an interface VPC endpoint for the SAP HANA database, and configure the application servers to connect through the endpoint. Enable encryption using AWS KMS.

Answer

Place the database in a public subnet with an Elastic IP, and use a network ACL to allow only the application servers' IP addresses. Enable encryption using AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) on the database.

Question 14

A company is deploying SAP S/4HANA on AWS and needs to ensure that the application servers can automatically discover and connect to the SAP HANA database. The company wants to use AWS native service discovery. Which service should be used to register the SAP HANA database and allow application servers to resolve its endpoint?

Accepted Answer

AWS Cloud Map with a private DNS namespace.. AWS Cloud Map is the appropriate service for service discovery. By creating a private DNS namespace and registering the SAP HANA database as a resource, application servers can automatically resolve the database endpoint. Cloud Map also supports health checks, enabling automatic failover in high-availability setups. Other options either expose the endpoint publicly, require manual configuration, or do not provide DNS-based discovery.

Answer

Amazon Route 53 with a public hosted zone.

Answer

Elastic Load Balancing with an Application Load Balancer.

Answer

AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store with a standard parameter.

Question 15

A company wants to migrate its SAP HANA database to AWS using SAP HANA Database Backup and Recovery. The backup files are stored on an NFS share on-premises. The company wants to restore these backups directly to an Amazon EC2 instance running SAP HANA. Which AWS storage service should they use to make the NFS backup files accessible to the EC2 instance?

Accepted Answer

Amazon EFS. Amazon EFS provides a scalable NFS file system that can be mounted on EC2 instances. The backup files can be copied from on-premises NFS to EFS using AWS DataSync or other methods, and then used for restore. Options A, B, D are incorrect because S3 is object storage (not NFS), FSx for Windows File Server is SMB, and EBS is block storage not NFS.

Answer

Amazon S3

Answer

Amazon FSx for Windows File Server

Answer

Amazon EBS