PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Test 5 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Match the AWS storage service to its characteristic relevant to SAP.

Accepted Answer

Amazon EBS: Block storage for SAP HANA data and log volumes. For SAP on AWS, EBS is used for HANA data/log volumes (block), S3 for backup/archiving (object), EFS for shared directories (file), and FSx for Lustre for high-performance analytics.

Answer

Amazon S3: File storage for SAP S/4HANA shared /sapmnt

Answer

Amazon EFS: Object storage for SAP backup and archiving

Question 2

Match the AWS service to its function in SAP disaster recovery.

Accepted Answer

AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (DRS): Continuous block-level replication of SAP servers to a DR region.. In SAP disaster recovery on AWS, AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (DRS) handles continuous replication, Amazon Route 53 manages DNS-based failover, and AWS Global Accelerator provides static IPs for traffic shifting. Common confusions involve mixing the distinct roles of these services.

Answer

AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (DRS): Snapshot-based backup of SAP HANA databases.

Answer

AWS Global Accelerator: DNS-based failover routing to redirect traffic to the DR site.

Answer

Amazon Route 53: Continuous block-level replication of SAP servers to a DR region.

Question 3

A company runs SAP on AWS. During a maintenance window, the SAP application team needs to apply a kernel update that requires a reboot of the SAP application servers. The environment uses an Auto Scaling group for the application tier. What is the BEST approach to minimize downtime?

Accepted Answer

Terminate instances one at a time, allowing the Auto Scaling group to launch new instances with the updated configuration.. The best approach to minimize downtime is to terminate instances one at a time, allowing the Auto Scaling group to launch new instances with the updated configuration. This method ensures that the desired capacity is maintained at all times, as the Auto Scaling group automatically replaces each terminated instance. Option A is wrong because stopping instances does not trigger the Auto Scaling group to launch new ones; it only suspends billing. Option B is wrong because detaching instances removes them from the group, requiring manual reattachment and risking capacity gaps. Option C might minimize downtime but incurs additional costs by running extra instances and is not as efficient as the rolling replacement in option D.

Answer

Stop all instances in the Auto Scaling group, apply the update, and start them again.

Answer

Detach all instances from the Auto Scaling group, apply the update, and reattach them.

Answer

Double the desired capacity of the Auto Scaling group, wait for new instances, then terminate old instances.

Question 4

An SAP system on AWS is experiencing performance degradation. Amazon CloudWatch metrics show high CPU utilization on the application server, but the database server (RDS) metrics are normal. The application team suspects a memory leak. Which action should the operations team take FIRST to confirm the issue?

Accepted Answer

Install the CloudWatch agent on the application server and enable memory metrics.. CloudWatch cannot see inside the OS without the CloudWatch agent. Installing the agent and collecting memory metrics is the first step to confirm a memory leak. Option A is wrong because CloudWatch does not provide memory metrics by default. Option C is wrong because rebooting is disruptive and does not help diagnose. Option D is wrong because switching to a larger instance is a reactive fix, not diagnostic.

Answer

Review the existing CloudWatch CPU utilization and memory metrics for the application server.

Answer

Reboot the application server and monitor performance after reboot.

Answer

Increase the instance size of the application server to handle the load.

Question 5

A company runs SAP HANA on AWS. The operations team needs to automate the creation of AMI backups for the HANA database server. Which AWS service should they use to schedule and manage these backups?

Accepted Answer

AWS Backup. AWS Backup (option B) is the correct service for scheduling and managing AMI backups for SAP HANA on AWS. Option A (Amazon S3 Lifecycle policies) manages object lifecycles in S3, not AMI creation. Option C (AWS Systems Manager) can automate operational tasks but is not specialized for backup scheduling; AWS Backup provides a centralized backup solution. Option D (Amazon CloudWatch Events) can trigger actions based on events but is not a backup service.

Answer

Amazon S3 Lifecycle policies

Answer

AWS Systems Manager

Answer

Amazon CloudWatch Events

Question 6

An SAP system on AWS uses a Multi-AZ RDS for SQL Server as the database. During a failover test, the application experienced a 2-minute outage. The application team wants to reduce this downtime. What should the operations team recommend?

Accepted Answer

Enable automatic failover handling in the application's JDBC connection string.. Enabling Multi-AZ with automatic failover in the JDBC connection string allows the application to automatically reconnect to the new primary without manual intervention. Option A is wrong because increasing instance size does not affect failover time. Option B is wrong because a different Multi-AZ configuration does not reduce failover time. Option D is wrong because RDS Proxy is not supported for SQL Server.

Answer

Increase the DB instance size to improve failover performance.

Answer

Configure Multi-AZ with SQL Server Mirroring instead of Always On Availability Groups.

Answer

Use Amazon RDS Proxy to manage connections.

Question 7

An SAP system on AWS is experiencing intermittent connectivity issues between the application servers and the HANA database. The network team has confirmed that the VPC and subnets are configured correctly. What should the operations team check NEXT?

Accepted Answer

Security group rules on the database server.. Intermittent connectivity issues between application servers and HANA database often point to security group rules. Security groups act as virtual firewalls for EC2 instances. If the security group on the database server does not allow inbound traffic from the application servers on the required ports (e.g., 3xx41 for HANA), connections may fail intermittently. While route tables and NACLs could affect connectivity, they are typically stable and less likely to cause intermittent problems. DNS resolution issues would be more consistent. Therefore, the operations team should first check the security group rules on the database server.

Answer

DNS resolution for the database endpoint.

Answer

VPC route tables for the application subnet.

Answer

Network ACLs on the database subnet.

Question 8

An operations team needs to monitor the disk space usage of SAP application servers running on EC2. Which combination of AWS services should they use?

Accepted Answer

Amazon CloudWatch agent and Amazon CloudWatch alarms. Amazon CloudWatch agent is required to collect custom metrics like disk space usage from EC2 instances, as the standard CloudWatch metrics only cover CPU, memory, network, and disk I/O. By installing the agent and configuring it to report disk space metrics, you can then set CloudWatch alarms to trigger notifications when thresholds are breached, enabling proactive monitoring of SAP application servers.

Answer

Amazon CloudWatch and AWS CloudTrail

Answer

AWS Lambda and Amazon DynamoDB

Answer

Amazon S3 and Amazon SNS

Question 9

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

Accepted Answer

The target instances are failing health checks.. 503 errors from an ALB indicate that the target instances are unhealthy or not responding. Option A is wrong because 503 errors are not caused by SSL certificate issues. Option B is wrong because security groups would cause connection timeouts, not 503. Option D is wrong because ALB capacity is automatically scaled.

Answer

The SSL certificate on the ALB has expired.

Answer

Security groups allow too much traffic.

Answer

The ALB is out of capacity.

Question 10

An SAP system on AWS uses a custom AMI for its application servers. The operations team needs to update the AMI to include a new security patch. What is the MOST efficient way to update all existing instances without downtime?

Accepted Answer

Create a new AMI version, update the Auto Scaling group's launch template, and perform a rolling update.. Creating a new AMI version, updating the Auto Scaling group's launch template, and performing a rolling update ensures zero downtime by gradually replacing instances with the patched AMI. This is the most efficient method for updating all existing instances without downtime. Option B is wrong because stopping all instances causes downtime. Option C is wrong because Patch Manager patches live instances, but the requirement is to update the AMI for future instances, not just patch running ones. Option D is wrong because manually launching instances is inefficient and not automated.

Answer

Stop all instances, apply the patch, create a new AMI, and start instances.

Answer

Use AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager to apply the patch to all running instances.

Answer

Create a new AMI, launch new instances manually, and terminate old ones.

Question 11

Which TWO actions should an operations team take to ensure high availability for SAP HANA in a single AWS Region?

Accepted Answer

Deploy SAP HANA in a Multi-AZ configuration using HANA System Replication.. Deploying SAP HANA in a Multi-AZ configuration using HANA System Replication ensures that a replica is maintained in a different Availability Zone, providing high availability across AZs. Option C is correct because HANA System Replication with automatic failover allows the system to automatically fail over to the replica if the primary fails, minimizing downtime. Option A is incorrect because read replicas are used for scaling read operations, not for high availability. Option D is incorrect because automated backups to Amazon S3 provide data protection but do not enable automatic failover. Option E is incorrect because a single EC2 instance in one AZ is a single point of failure and does not provide high availability.

Answer

Create read replicas of the HANA database.

Answer

Configure automated backups to Amazon S3.

Answer

Use a single large EC2 instance in one Availability Zone.

Question 12

Which THREE metrics should an operations team monitor to detect performance issues in an SAP HANA database running on EC2?

Accepted Answer

CPU utilization. Options A, B, and D are correct. A: CPU utilization indicates compute pressure, which can affect HANA performance. B: Disk I/O (especially read/write latency) is critical for HANA's data persistence and log writes; high latency can degrade performance. D: Memory usage is essential since HANA is an in-memory database; insufficient memory leads to performance issues. Option C (Network packets) is wrong because network throughput is less directly impactful for HANA performance compared to the other metrics. Option E (Swap usage) is wrong because while high swap usage can indicate severe memory pressure, HANA should not swap under normal operations; monitoring memory usage directly is more effective and a primary metric. Swap usage is a secondary indicator that typically follows memory pressure, and is not among the top three critical performance metrics to watch.

Answer

Network packets in/out

Answer

Swap usage

Question 13

Which TWO AWS services can be used to automate the patching of SAP application servers?

Accepted Answer

AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager. AWS Systems Manager Patch Manager (Option B) is correct because it provides a fully managed service specifically designed to automate the process of patching operating systems and applications, including SAP application servers running on EC2 instances. It uses patch baselines to define approved patches and can schedule patching across multiple instances, ensuring SAP systems remain compliant without manual intervention.

Answer

AWS CloudFormation

Answer

Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling

Answer

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

Question 14

Refer to the exhibit. An SAP HANA instance is running on an EC2 instance. The volume `/dev/sdf` is used for HANA data. The operations team needs to increase the disk size for HANA data without downtime. Which action should they take?

Accepted Answer

Modify the EBS volume size while the instance is running.. Modifying the EBS volume size while the instance is running is supported for most volume types, allowing for a no-downtime increase. Option A is wrong because launching a new instance and migrating data would cause downtime. Option B is wrong because stopping the instance is unnecessary and would cause downtime. Option C is wrong because adding a new volume and moving data would also require downtime for the migration.

Answer

Launch a new instance with a larger volume and migrate HANA data.

Answer

Stop the instance, modify the volume size, and start the instance.

Answer

Add a new EBS volume to the instance and move HANA data to the new volume.

Question 15

Refer to the exhibit. An operations team uses an EC2 instance with this IAM policy to manage EBS snapshots for SAP HANA backups. The backup script calls the DeleteSnapshot API for snapshot snap-0abcdef1234567890. What will happen?

Accepted Answer

The DeleteSnapshot API call will be denied.. The IAM policy evaluation logic dictates that an explicit Deny overrides any Allow. Since the policy explicitly denies DeleteSnapshot for the specific snapshot snap-0abcdef1234567890, the API call will be denied even if an Allow statement exists. Option A is incorrect because the Deny is not restricted to 'other snapshots'; it specifically targets the snapshot in question. Option B is incorrect because the Allow does not override an explicit Deny. Option C is incorrect because the policy is syntactically valid; the explicit Deny is a legitimate policy statement.

Answer

The snapshot will be deleted because the Deny applies only to other snapshots.

Answer

The snapshot will be deleted because the Allow statement grants permission.

Answer

The policy is invalid and will cause an error.