PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Test 26 — 15 Questions

Question 1

An SAP administrator needs to monitor the CPU utilization of an EC2 instance running SAP HANA. Which AWS service should be used to set an alarm when CPU utilization exceeds 90% for 5 minutes?

Accepted Answer

Amazon CloudWatch. Option C is correct because CloudWatch alarms can be set on EC2 metrics like CPUUtilization. Option A is wrong because CloudTrail is for API logging. Option B is wrong because Config is for resource compliance. Option D is wrong because Trusted Advisor provides recommendations, not monitoring.

Answer

AWS CloudTrail

Answer

AWS Trusted Advisor

Answer

AWS Config

Question 2

A company has an SAP landscape with multiple instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The operations team needs to ensure that the ALB targets are deregistered before an instance is terminated during a patching activity. Which AWS service can automate this?

Accepted Answer

Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling lifecycle hooks. Option D is correct because AWS Auto Scaling lifecycle hooks can manage instance state transitions and deregister from ALB before termination. Option A is wrong because Lambda can be used but is not the service that inherently manages it. Option B is wrong because Systems Manager State Manager is for configuration. Option C is wrong because Elastic Beanstalk is for web apps, not SAP.

Answer

AWS Systems Manager State Manager

Answer

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

Answer

AWS Lambda

Question 3

During an SAP system refresh, the operations team needs to restore an SAP HANA database from an S3 backup to a new EC2 instance. The backup was created using SAP HANA Backint. Which AWS service is required to read the backup from S3?

Accepted Answer

SAP HANA Backint agent for Amazon S3. Option A is correct because SAP HANA Backint is a certified backup tool that integrates with S3. Option B is wrong because AWS Storage Gateway is not used for Backint. Option C is wrong because AWS Backup offers SAP HANA support but not via Backint. Option D is wrong because EC2 Snapshots are not used with Backint.

Answer

Amazon EBS snapshots

Answer

AWS Backup

Answer

AWS Storage Gateway

Question 4

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 5

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?

Accepted Answer

AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager. Option A is correct because Patch Manager automates OS patching. Option B is wrong because Run Command runs ad-hoc commands. Option C is wrong because Automation runs predefined workflows. Option D is wrong because OpsCenter is for managing operational issues.

Answer

AWS Systems Manager Automation

Answer

AWS Systems Manager Run Command

Answer

AWS Systems Manager OpsCenter

Question 6

An SAP HANA database on EC2 is experiencing high swap usage. The system administrator suspects that the memory configuration is insufficient. Which CloudWatch metric should be monitored to confirm this?

Accepted Answer

SwapUsage. Option C is correct because SwapUsage is a standard EC2 metric available from the instance. Option A is wrong because MemoryUtilization is a custom metric, not default. Option B is wrong because DiskWriteOps is for disk I/O. Option D is wrong because NetworkOut is for network.

Answer

NetworkOut

Answer

DiskWriteOps

Answer

MemoryUtilization

Question 7

An SAP administrator needs to ensure that an EC2 instance hosting SAP HANA is rebooted automatically after a hardware failure. Which AWS feature provides this capability?

Accepted Answer

EC2 Auto Recovery. EC2 Auto Recovery is the correct AWS feature because it automatically recovers an EC2 instance when a hardware failure on the underlying physical host is detected. For SAP HANA workloads, this ensures the instance is rebooted on a healthy host without manual intervention, maintaining high availability for critical database operations.

Answer

Placement group

Answer

Auto Scaling group

Answer

Elastic IP address

Question 8

Which TWO tasks require the use of AWS Systems Manager Session Manager? (Choose TWO.)

Accepted Answer

Execute a one-time command on an EC2 instance interactively. Options A and D are correct. Session Manager provides secure shell access without SSH keys (A) and can be used to execute commands interactively (D). Options B and C are wrong because Session Manager does not manage patches or store parameters. Option E is wrong because Session Manager is not for file transfers.

Answer

Transfer files between on-premises and AWS

Answer

Store database connection strings securely

Answer

Apply operating system patches to a fleet of EC2 instances

Question 9

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 10

Which TWO services can be used to centrally manage and enforce backup policies for SAP systems on AWS? (Choose TWO.)

Accepted Answer

Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager. Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager (DLM) automates the creation, retention, and deletion of EBS snapshots and EBS-backed AMIs. For SAP systems, you can use DLM to enforce backup policies for the underlying EBS volumes (e.g., /usr/sap, /sapmnt, data volumes) by scheduling snapshots and applying retention rules. AWS Backup provides a centralized, policy-based backup service that supports SAP HANA databases (via Backint integration) and EC2 instances, enabling you to define backup plans, assign resources, and enforce compliance across your SAP landscape.

Answer

AWS CloudFormation

Answer

AWS Config

Answer

Amazon S3

Question 11

A company runs an SAP HANA database on an EC2 instance. During a maintenance window, an administrator needs to stop the instance but ensure that the data in the attached EBS volumes is preserved and the instance can be started later without data loss. Which action should the administrator take?

Accepted Answer

Stop the instance from the AWS Management Console.. Option B is correct because stopping an EBS-backed EC2 instance preserves the data on the EBS volumes; the instance can be started later without data loss. Option A (termination) would delete the instance and potentially the volumes. Option C (reboot) does not stop the instance. Option D (hibernate) is for instances with specific configurations and may not preserve all SAP HANA states.

Answer

Hibernate the instance from the AWS Management Console.

Answer

Terminate the instance from the AWS Management Console.

Answer

Reboot the instance from the AWS Management Console.

Question 12

An SAP system on AWS experiences performance degradation during peak hours. Monitoring shows high CPU utilization on the application server EC2 instances. The instances are in an Auto Scaling group with a step scaling policy based on CPU utilization. Despite scaling, performance does not improve. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The step scaling policy has a cooldown period that prevents immediate scaling.. Option C is correct because step scaling policies have a cooldown period that prevents additional scaling activities, which can delay response during rapid changes. Option A (not registered with ELB) would affect traffic distribution but not scaling policy. Option B (insufficient instance types) is possible but less likely given scaling is happening. Option D (CloudWatch alarm misconfiguration) would prevent scaling from triggering.

Answer

The selected EC2 instance types lack sufficient memory for SAP applications.

Answer

The CloudWatch alarm is not configured to trigger the scaling policy.

Answer

The Auto Scaling group is not associated with an Elastic Load Balancer.

Question 13

A company runs SAP on AWS and needs to automate the patching of SAP application servers. The solution should apply patches during a defined maintenance window and ensure high availability. What is the most efficient approach?

Accepted Answer

Use AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager with a maintenance window.. Option D is correct because AWS Systems Manager automates patching with maintenance windows and supports high availability by targeting instances in an Auto Scaling group. Option A (Lambda with Run Command) is possible but less efficient. Option B (manual patching via SSH) is not automated. Option C (CloudFormation update) is complex and not ideal for patching.

Answer

Update the CloudFormation stack to replace instances with new AMIs.

Answer

Use AWS Lambda to invoke Run Command on each instance sequentially.

Answer

Manually connect to each instance via SSH and apply patches.

Question 14

An SAP system experiences an unplanned failover of the HANA database. The database administrator needs to investigate the root cause. Which AWS service should be used to analyze the timeline of events leading to the failover?

Accepted Answer

AWS CloudTrail. Option B is correct because AWS CloudTrail records API calls and events, which can help trace actions leading to failover. Option A (CloudWatch Logs) collects logs but not API activity. Option C (VPC Flow Logs) captures network traffic. Option D (AWS Config) tracks configuration changes but not real-time events.

Answer

Amazon CloudWatch Logs

Answer

Amazon VPC Flow Logs

Answer

AWS Config

Question 15

A company uses SAP S/4HANA on AWS with a multi-AZ deployment. During a quarterly maintenance, the administrator needs to update the kernel of the primary application server without downtime. The application servers are behind an Application Load Balancer. What is the best strategy?

Accepted Answer

Deregister the instance from the target group, apply the patch, and re-register it.. Option A is correct because deregistering the instance from the target group, applying the patch, and then re-registering ensures no traffic is sent during the update, achieving zero downtime. Option B (stop instance) causes downtime. Option C (change AMI) is for replacing instances. Option D (update in place) would cause brief downtime if not deregistered.

Answer

Stop the instance, apply the patch, and start the instance.

Answer

Apply the patch directly while the instance is in service.

Answer

Launch a new instance with the updated kernel and terminate the old one.