PAS-C01 Mock Exam 85 — 25 Questions

Question 1

An SAP administrator needs to ensure that all API calls made to create, modify, or delete AWS resources are logged for auditing. Which AWS service should be enabled?

Accepted Answer

AWS CloudTrail. AWS CloudTrail logs API calls. Option A (CloudWatch) is for monitoring metrics. Option C (Config) is for resource configuration. Option D (GuardDuty) is for security threats.

Answer

Amazon CloudWatch

Answer

AWS Config

Answer

Amazon GuardDuty

Question 2

An operations team is troubleshooting a performance issue in an SAP environment where the database server's memory usage is consistently high. The team suspects that the SAP buffer cache is not sized optimally. Which CloudWatch metric should be monitored to confirm this?

Accepted Answer

`FreeableMemory` for the RDS instance. The `DatabaseMemoryUsedPercent` metric for Amazon RDS provides the percentage of memory used by the database engine, including buffer cache. A consistently high value may indicate an oversized buffer cache relative to available memory, but the question asks for a metric to confirm. However, the correct metric for RDS memory is `FreeableMemory`. The buffer cache size can be inferred from `FreeableMemory`. Alternatively, for EC2-based SAP, the OS metrics are needed. Given the options, `FreeableMemory` is the best indicator.

Answer

`ReadIOPS` for the RDS instance

Answer

`DatabaseConnections` for the RDS instance

Answer

`SwapUsage` for the RDS instance

Question 3

A company is deploying a new SAP S/4HANA system on AWS. The system will be used by 500 concurrent users. The SAP application server and the HANA database will run on separate EC2 instances. The company needs to ensure that the database instance has enough memory for the HANA database, which requires 512 GB of RAM. The application server requires 32 vCPUs and 128 GB of RAM. The company wants to minimize costs while meeting these requirements. Which combination of EC2 instance types should the company choose?

Accepted Answer

Use an r5.24xlarge for the database and an r5.8xlarge for the application server.. The HANA database requires 512 GB of RAM. The r5.24xlarge provides 768 GB of RAM and 96 vCPUs, which is sufficient and cost-effective for the database. The r5.8xlarge provides 32 vCPUs and 256 GB of RAM, meeting the application server's requirements of 32 vCPUs and 128 GB. Option A uses an r5.12xlarge (384 GB RAM) for the database, which is insufficient for 512 GB. Option B uses an x1e.8xlarge (244 GB RAM) for the database, also insufficient. Option C uses an x1e.32xlarge (976 GB RAM) for the database, which is overkill and more expensive, and the m5.8xlarge (32 vCPUs, 128 GB RAM) for the application is adequate but the database choice increases cost unnecessarily. Therefore, D minimizes cost while meeting requirements.

Answer

Use an r5.12xlarge for the database and an m5.4xlarge for the application server.

Answer

Use an x1e.8xlarge for the database and an r5.8xlarge for the application server.

Answer

Use an x1e.32xlarge for the database and an m5.8xlarge for the application server.

Question 4

An SAP administrator created the IAM policy shown for a backup script. The script fails when trying to upload a backup to S3. What is the likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The KMS key ARN is malformed; it contains extra characters.. The KMS key ARN in the IAM policy is malformed (contains extra characters). When the backup script attempts to upload to S3 with server-side encryption using KMS (SSE-KMS), S3 needs to decrypt the object using the KMS key. If the key ARN is invalid, the kms:Decrypt permission cannot be evaluated, causing the upload to fail. Option A is incorrect because for PutObject, the resource must be the object ARN (arn:aws:s3:::sap-backup-bucket/*), not the bucket itself. Option B is incorrect because ec2:Describe* actions do not interfere with S3 operations. Option C is incorrect because the s3:* action, while broad, is permitted on the specified objects, and there is no indication of a restrictive bucket policy.

Answer

The resource for S3 should include the bucket itself (arn:aws:s3:::sap-backup-bucket).

Answer

The ec2:Describe* action is not required and causes a conflict.

Answer

The s3:* action is too broad and is denied by an S3 bucket policy.

Question 5

A company runs a critical SAP application on an SAP HANA database on AWS. The database is backed up daily to Amazon S3. The company needs to ensure that the database can be restored to a point in time within the last 24 hours with minimal data loss. Which AWS service should be used to achieve this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Use AWS Backup with the SAP HANA backup plan.. AWS Backup provides a managed backup service for SAP HANA databases, supporting automated backups and point-in-time recovery (PITR) within a specified retention period. Option A is incorrect because S3 Object Versioning protects against accidental deletion but does not provide database-level point-in-time recovery. Option B is incorrect because Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager (DLM) is designed for managing EBS snapshots, not for SAP HANA database backups. Option D is incorrect because Amazon RDS is a managed relational database service and does not support SAP HANA.

Answer

Enable S3 Object Versioning on the backup bucket.

Answer

Configure Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager (DLM) for EBS snapshots.

Answer

Use Amazon RDS automated backups.

Question 6

An SAP administrator notices that the /hana/data filesystem on an SAP HANA database is approaching 95% utilization. The HANA instance uses EBS gp3 volumes. What is the MOST efficient way to increase storage without downtime?

Accepted Answer

Modify the existing EBS volume to increase its size.. EBS gp3 volumes support online resizing without downtime. You can increase the volume size while the instance is running, and then extend the filesystem and logical volume (if using LVM) to utilize the additional space. This avoids any disruption to the SAP HANA database.

Answer

Add a new EBS volume and extend the logical volume.

Answer

Migrate the database to a new instance with larger volumes.

Answer

Create a snapshot, create a larger volume, and restore.

Question 7

An SAP system running on AWS uses a shared file system via Amazon EFS for transport directories. The system administrator notices that file operations are slow across multiple application servers. The EFS file system is configured with Bursting Throughput mode. What is the most effective way to improve performance?

Accepted Answer

Switch the file system to Provisioned Throughput mode and set a higher throughput value.. Provisioned Throughput mode allows you to specify a higher throughput level for your Amazon EFS file system, providing consistent performance independent of burst credits. Option B is incorrect: using EFS Access Points does not affect throughput, they enforce access permissions. Option C is incorrect: reducing operations during off-peak hours may conserve burst credits but does not directly increase performance; significant improvement requires Provisioned Throughput. Option D is incorrect: additional mount targets in each AZ do not increase throughput as they share the same file system throughput.

Answer

Use EFS Access Points to enforce a different UID/GID for each application server.

Answer

Increase the burst credit balance by reducing file operations during off-peak hours.

Answer

Create additional mount targets in each Availability Zone to distribute load.

Question 8

Which TWO statements are correct regarding SAP HANA backup strategies on AWS? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

S3 can be used as a backup destination for SAP HANA using AWS Backup.. AWS Backup natively supports SAP HANA as a managed backup service, allowing backups to be stored directly in Amazon S3. This provides a durable, scalable, and cost-effective backup destination without the need to manage backup infrastructure or scripts. Option B is correct because AWS Backup integrates with SAP HANA to automate full, incremental, and differential backups to S3.

Answer

EBS snapshots are the most cost-effective option for long-term backup retention.

Answer

S3 Standard-IA storage class is optimal for cross-region replication.

Answer

SAP HANA backup to EBS volumes is the recommended method for long-term archival.

Question 9

An SAP system running on AWS uses a Multi-AZ RDS for SAP ASE database. The operations team notices that the database failover took longer than expected during a recent outage. What should the team investigate to reduce failover time?

Accepted Answer

Check for long-running transactions that delay the failover.. Multi-AZ failover time is primarily affected by the time required to complete in-flight transactions and apply redo logs to the standby. Long-running transactions can delay failover because they must be completed or rolled back before the standby can become the primary. Option A is incorrect because increasing storage may improve I/O performance but does not directly reduce failover time. Option B is incorrect because the standby must be in a different Availability Zone for Multi-AZ. Option D is incorrect because Multi-AZ RDS uses synchronous replication, not asynchronous.

Answer

Increase the allocated storage for the database to improve I/O performance.

Answer

Ensure that the standby instance is in the same Availability Zone as the primary.

Answer

Verify that the database is using asynchronous replication.

Question 10

An SAP administrator is troubleshooting a performance issue on an SAP HANA database running on an EC2 instance. The instance type is r5.4xlarge with EBS-optimized enabled. CloudWatch metrics show high WriteIOPS but low throughput. Which THREE factors could be causing this behavior? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

The SAP HANA database is performing many small write operations.. Options A, B, and C are correct. Small I/O operations cause high IOPS but low throughput (A). Lock contention or thread contention can reduce throughput by causing waiting times (B). EBS volume throughput limits can cap the actual throughput even if IOPS are high (C). Option D is incorrect because EBS optimization is already enabled. Option E is incorrect because a large block size would increase throughput, not cause low throughput.

Answer

The instance's EBS-optimized feature is not enabled.

Answer

The EBS volume is configured with a large block size.

Question 11

A company is deploying SAP Business Suite on AWS and wants to minimize network latency between the SAP application servers and the database server. Which placement strategy is best?

Accepted Answer

Place the servers in the same placement group within a single Availability Zone.. Placement groups in AWS allow you to influence the placement of a group of interdependent instances to meet the needs of your workload. For SAP Business Suite, which is sensitive to network latency between application and database servers, using a cluster placement group within a single Availability Zone ensures the lowest possible latency and maximum throughput, as instances are placed in close proximity to each other, often within the same rack, enabling high-bandwidth, low-latency networking.

Answer

Place the servers in different VPCs connected via VPC Peering.

Answer

Place the application and database servers in different Availability Zones within the same region.

Answer

Place the servers in different AWS Regions.

Question 12

A company runs SAP on AWS and uses SAP HANA as its database. The system is experiencing high latency during peak hours. The SAP HANA administrator wants to identify performance bottlenecks at the CPU, memory, and disk I/O levels. Which TWO AWS services can be used together to monitor and correlate these metrics?

Accepted Answer

Amazon CloudWatch Logs. Amazon CloudWatch (Option D) collects and stores CPU, memory, and disk I/O metrics from SAP HANA instances via the CloudWatch Agent or direct integration. Amazon CloudWatch Logs (Option B) ingests SAP HANA diagnostic logs, such as trace files and performance dumps, enabling correlation of log events with metric spikes. Together, they provide a unified view to pinpoint bottlenecks at the CPU, memory, and I/O levels during peak hours.

Answer

AWS Config

Answer

Amazon Inspector

Answer

AWS X-Ray

Question 13

A company is designing a disaster recovery solution for SAP S/4HANA. They need to meet an RPO of 15 minutes and an RTO of 2 hours. Which THREE components should be included in the DR plan? (Choose 3.)

Accepted Answer

SAP HANA System Replication in async mode. SAP HANA System Replication in async mode is correct because it can achieve an RPO of 15 minutes by asynchronously replicating log buffers from the primary to the DR HANA instance, and combined with a pre-configured DR system, it supports an RTO of 2 hours. This native SAP replication mechanism is optimized for HANA databases and avoids the overhead of storage-level snapshots or third-party tools.

Answer

EBS snapshots taken every 15 minutes

Answer

AWS CloudEndure Disaster Recovery

Question 14

An SAP system on AWS is experiencing high write latency on the database layer. The DB is running on an r5.8xlarge instance with EBS gp2 volumes. The SAP team notices that the EBS volume write queue depth is frequently above 16. What is the MOST likely cause and what change should be made?

Accepted Answer

The volume is too small for the workload. Increase the volume size to gain baseline IOPS.. Gp2 volume baseline IOPS scales linearly with size (3 IOPS per GiB). An r5.8xlarge instance supports EBS optimization, so the bottleneck is not the instance. With a write queue depth frequently above 16, the gp2 volume is likely too small to provide sufficient baseline IOPS, causing the queue to back up. Increasing the volume size raises the baseline IOPS, reducing queue depth and write latency.

Answer

The instance type does not support EBS optimization. Switch to a network-optimized instance.

Answer

The EBS volume is not optimized for SAP. Use io1 with high provisioned IOPS.

Answer

The gp2 volume does not provide enough burst IOPS. Migrate to gp3.

Question 15

Which TWO AWS services can be used to monitor the performance of an SAP HANA database running on EC2? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

AWS Systems Manager. AWS Systems Manager (SSM) is correct because it provides the Run Command and Inventory features that can execute scripts (e.g., SAP HANA SQL queries) and collect OS-level metrics (CPU, memory, disk) from EC2 instances. Amazon CloudWatch is correct because it can ingest custom metrics from the SAP HANA database (e.g., via the SAP HANA plugin for CloudWatch Agent) and monitor standard EC2 metrics like CPU utilization and memory, enabling performance monitoring and alarming.

Answer

AWS CloudTrail

Answer

AWS Trusted Advisor

Answer

AWS Config

Question 16

Which TWO Amazon CloudWatch metrics are most useful for monitoring SAP HANA database performance on EC2?

Accepted Answer

CPUCreditBalance. CPUCreditBalance (A) is critical for monitoring SAP HANA on EC2 because HANA is a memory- and CPU-intensive in-memory database that can burst CPU usage. If the instance runs on a T-series burstable instance, a low CPUCreditBalance indicates the instance may soon be throttled, causing severe performance degradation for HANA queries. VolumeQueueLength (D) is essential because SAP HANA relies on fast, low-latency storage (e.g., io1/io2 EBS volumes) for data persistence; a high queue length signals that I/O requests are backing up, directly impacting HANA's savepoint and log write performance.

Answer

NetworkIn

Answer

DiskWriteOps

Answer

StatusCheckFailed

Question 17

An SAP administrator is troubleshooting an issue where SAP application servers are unable to connect to the SAP HANA database. The database is running on an EC2 instance in a private subnet. The application servers are in a different VPC connected via VPC peering. The security group for the database instance allows TCP port 3$15$13 from the application server security group. Which additional configuration is MOST likely required?

Accepted Answer

Enable DNS resolution for the VPC peering connection.. VPC peering does not automatically enable DNS resolution for hostnames across peered VPCs. The application servers need to resolve the database's private DNS hostname to its private IP. By default, DNS resolution for peered VPCs is disabled. Enabling DNS resolution on the VPC peering connection allows the application servers to resolve the database's hostname, which is essential for connectivity. Option A is incorrect as the security group already allows the port; Option B is incorrect because the route tables already handle traffic via the peering connection; Option C is incorrect because network ACLs are not the core issue—the problem is DNS resolution, not NACL rules.

Answer

Modify the security group to allow traffic from the application server subnet CIDR.

Answer

Update the route tables to add a route to the database subnet.

Answer

Add a rule to the network ACL to allow inbound traffic on port 3$15$13.

Question 18

A company wants to automate the installation of SAP HANA on AWS using CloudFormation. Which AWS service can provide a Quick Start for SAP HANA?

Accepted Answer

AWS Quick Start.. AWS Quick Start is the correct service because it provides pre-built, automated reference deployments for SAP HANA on AWS, including CloudFormation templates that automate the installation and configuration of SAP HANA. This aligns directly with the requirement to use CloudFormation for automation, as Quick Starts are built on CloudFormation and include best-practice architectures.

Answer

AWS Service Catalog.

Answer

AWS OpsWorks.

Answer

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS).

Question 19

A company has deployed its SAP S/4HANA system on AWS in a single Availability Zone. The system consists of a primary application server (PAS), additional application servers (AAS), and a HANA database server, all running on EC2 instances. The company is experiencing occasional performance degradation during peak hours. The CloudWatch metrics show that the database server's CPU utilization spikes to 90% during these periods, while the application servers' CPU remains below 50%. The storage is configured with two EBS io1 volumes (each 1 TB, 10,000 IOPS) for HANA data and one io1 volume (500 GB, 5,000 IOPS) for log. The network throughput is not saturated. The company wants to resolve the performance issue without increasing costs significantly. Which course of action should the company take?

Accepted Answer

Implement SAP HANA System Replication with a secondary node in the same AZ to offload read operations.. Implementing SAP HANA System Replication with a secondary node in the same Availability Zone allows read-only queries to be offloaded to the secondary node, reducing CPU load on the primary database server. This directly addresses the CPU spike during peak hours without significantly increasing costs. Option B is wrong because the performance issue is CPU-bound, not I/O-bound; increasing IOPS would add cost without resolving the CPU bottleneck. Option C is wrong because switching from io1 to gp3 may reduce storage costs but does not improve CPU performance. Option D is wrong because upgrading to a larger instance is expensive and may not be necessary if HSR can distribute the load effectively.

Answer

Increase the Provisioned IOPS on the data volumes to 20,000 each.

Answer

Switch the EBS volumes from io1 to gp3 to reduce latency.

Answer

Upgrade the database instance to a larger type, such as r5.12xlarge.

Question 20

Which TWO metrics should be monitored to ensure the health of an SAP HANA database running on AWS? (Select two.)

Accepted Answer

Disk I/O (read/write throughput). Disk I/O (read/write throughput) is critical for SAP HANA because HANA is an in-memory database that relies on persistent storage for savepoints, log writes, and data recovery. Insufficient disk throughput can cause performance degradation or system hangs, making it a key health metric.

Answer

Elastic Load Balancer Latency

Answer

S3 Bucket Size

Answer

CPU Credit Balance