PAS-C01 Technology Practice Test 18 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company is running SAP HANA on an Amazon EC2 instance with 4 TB of memory. The database is backed up to Amazon S3 using SAP HANA's native backup to S3. The backup window is 2 hours, and the company needs to ensure that backups complete within this window. Monitoring shows that backup throughput is limited by the network bandwidth of the EC2 instance. Which action should the administrator take to improve backup performance?

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

Accepted Answer

Use SAP HANA's multi-streaming backup feature by configuring multiple channels to write to Amazon S3 in parallel.. SAP HANA multi-streaming backup uses multiple parallel channels to write backup data, which can maximize network utilization and reduce backup time. This is the appropriate solution when network bandwidth is the bottleneck. Other options either do not address the instance's network limit or are not supported configurations.

Answer

Increase the size of the EBS volume used for HANA data to improve read throughput during backup, which will allow faster writes to S3.

Answer

Enable S3 Transfer Acceleration on the S3 bucket used for backups and configure the HANA backup to use the accelerated endpoint.

Answer

Attach multiple Elastic Network Interfaces (ENIs) to the EC2 instance and configure HANA to use them for backup traffic.

Question 2

A company is deploying SAP S/4HANA on AWS and must ensure that the SAP HANA database can be recovered within 15 minutes if the primary Availability Zone fails. The database is currently running on a single EC2 instance in one AZ, and backups are taken every 6 hours to Amazon S3. The company wants a cost-effective solution that meets the RTO. What should the SAP specialist recommend?

Accepted Answer

Configure SAP HANA system replication to a secondary EC2 instance in another AZ with synchronous mode and automatic failover using an overlay IP address.. SAP HANA system replication is the recommended high-availability solution for SAP on AWS. Synchronous replication to a secondary AZ ensures no data loss and fast failover. An overlay IP address allows automatic client reconnection, meeting the tight RTO. Other options rely on backups or block-level replication that do not provide the required recovery time or data consistency.

Answer

Create an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) of the SAP HANA instance and launch a new instance from it in another AZ when a failure occurs.

Answer

Enable Amazon S3 Cross-Region Replication for the backup bucket and restore the latest backup to a new EC2 instance in another AZ during a failover.

Answer

Use AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery to continuously replicate the EC2 instance to another AZ and perform a failover.

Question 3

A company is running SAP HANA on an Amazon EC2 instance with 4 TB of memory. The database is backed up to Amazon S3 using SAP HANA's native backup to S3. The backup window is 2 hours, and the company needs to ensure that backups complete within this window. Monitoring shows that backup throughput is limited by the network bandwidth of the EC2 instance. Which action should the administrator take to improve backup performance?

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

Accepted Answer

Enable SAP HANA fast restart by configuring the persistent memory (pmem) and using an EBS volume with the appropriate settings.. The two correct actions are enabling SAP HANA fast restart with persistent memory and using an EBS io2 Block Express volume for the data volume. Fast restart drastically reduces startup time by keeping the column store in persistent memory, while io2 Block Express provides the low-latency, high-IOPS storage needed for any disk operations. Together, they optimize both startup time and performance.

Answer

Enable Amazon EBS Multi-Attach on the gp3 volume to allow multiple EC2 instances to access the data simultaneously.

Answer

Increase the size of the gp3 volume to 16 TB to maximize IOPS and throughput.

Answer

Configure the SAP HANA instance to use a larger EC2 instance type with more memory to avoid swapping.

Question 4

A company runs an SAP NetWeaver ABAP system on AWS with the database on Amazon RDS for SAP HANA. The database is in a single Availability Zone, and the company requires a maximum recovery point objective (RPO) of 5 minutes and a recovery time objective (RTO) of 30 minutes across two Availability Zones. Which solution meets these requirements MOST cost-effectively?

Accepted Answer

Enable Amazon RDS for SAP HANA Multi-AZ deployment, which maintains a synchronous standby in a second Availability Zone and automatically fails over.. Amazon RDS for SAP HANA Multi-AZ provides synchronous replication to a standby in a second Availability Zone, ensuring near-zero data loss and automatic failover within minutes. This meets the RPO and RTO while being fully managed and cost-effective. Other options either use unsupported features or manual processes that cannot guarantee the required objectives.

Answer

Take manual snapshots of the RDS for SAP HANA database every 5 minutes and restore to a new instance in a second Availability Zone during a failure.

Answer

Configure AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) to continuously replicate the SAP HANA database to a second RDS for SAP HANA instance in another Availability Zone.

Answer

Deploy an SAP HANA multi-AZ standby in a second Availability Zone and use SAP HANA System Replication with synchronous mode.

Question 5

A company runs SAP S/4HANA on AWS with a single HANA database instance on an r6i.16xlarge EC2 instance. The database requires a write latency of less than 1 ms and 80,000 IOPS. The storage team proposes using an Amazon EBS gp3 volume with 80,000 IOPS and 2,000 MiB/s throughput. What is the MOST appropriate storage solution to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Use an Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volume with 80,000 IOPS and a size of 1 TiB.. SAP HANA requires storage with consistently low latency and high IOPS. Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes are certified for SAP HANA and can deliver up to 256,000 IOPS with sub-millisecond latency. A 1 TiB volume supports 80,000 IOPS because the IOPS-to-size ratio allows up to 1000 IOPS per GiB. gp3, st1, and Multi-Attach configurations do not meet the performance or certification requirements for HANA.

Answer

Use an Amazon EBS gp3 volume with 80,000 IOPS and 2,000 MiB/s throughput.

Answer

Use an Amazon EBS st1 volume with 80,000 IOPS and 2,000 MiB/s throughput.

Answer

Use an Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volume with 80,000 IOPS and enable Multi-Attach.

Question 6

A company runs an SAP NetWeaver application server on an EC2 instance in a private subnet. The instance must access an Amazon S3 bucket for storing SAP transport files, but the subnet has no NAT gateway or internet gateway route. The security team requires that traffic to S3 never traverse the public internet. Which solution should the SAP administrator implement?

Accepted Answer

Create an Amazon S3 gateway VPC endpoint and add a route for the S3 prefix list (pl-xxxxxxxx) in the private subnet's route table.. A gateway VPC endpoint for Amazon S3 provides private connectivity from a VPC to S3 without requiring an internet gateway or NAT device. It is the correct choice because it keeps traffic within the AWS network, satisfies the security requirement, and is the most cost-effective option for S3 access from EC2 instances in private subnets.

Answer

Attach an internet gateway to the VPC and update the private subnet's route table to point 0.0.0.0/0 to the internet gateway.

Answer

Configure a NAT gateway in a public subnet and update the private subnet's route table to point 0.0.0.0/0 to the NAT gateway.

Answer

Create an Amazon S3 interface VPC endpoint (AWS PrivateLink) in the VPC and associate it with the private subnet's route table.

Question 7

A company is deploying SAP HANA on AWS using multiple Amazon EC2 instances in a scale-out configuration. The company needs to ensure that the SAP HANA database can automatically recover from an Availability Zone failure. Which TWO actions should be taken to meet this requirement? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Deploy a secondary SAP HANA scale-out system in a second Availability Zone and configure it as a replication target. To enable automatic recovery from an Availability Zone failure for SAP HANA scale-out, you need to configure SAP HANA system replication in synchronous mode and deploy a secondary scale-out system in a different Availability Zone. These two actions ensure data is replicated with zero data loss and that a standby system is ready to take over. Other options like Auto Scaling, EBS Multi-Attach, or Storage Gateway do not provide the necessary replication and failover capabilities for SAP HANA.

Answer

Use Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling to automatically add new HANA nodes in another Availability Zone

Answer

Use AWS Storage Gateway to replicate HANA data to another Availability Zone

Answer

Enable EBS Multi-Attach on the HANA data volumes to allow access from multiple AZs

Question 8

An SAP HANA database runs on an Amazon EC2 instance with 4 TB of memory. The company needs to ensure that the database can be recovered quickly in the event of a failure, with a recovery point objective (RPO) of 15 minutes and a recovery time objective (RTO) of 1 hour. The database uses SAP HANA fast restart and is configured with persistent memory. Which storage configuration should be used to meet these objectives while minimizing cost?

Accepted Answer

Use Amazon EBS io2 volumes for data and log, with a snapshot schedule every 15 minutes, and use SAP HANA fast restart with persistent memory.. The correct answer is to use io2 volumes with a 15-minute snapshot schedule and SAP HANA fast restart with persistent memory. io2 volumes provide the high IOPS and durability required for SAP HANA. The snapshot frequency meets the 15-minute RPO. Fast restart with persistent memory allows the database to resume quickly without reloading all data, meeting the 1-hour RTO. This avoids the extra cost of fast snapshot restore.

Answer

Use Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes for data and log, with a snapshot schedule every 15 minutes, and enable fast snapshot restore.

Answer

Use Amazon EBS gp3 volumes for data and log, with a snapshot schedule every 15 minutes, and enable fast snapshot restore.

Answer

Use Amazon EBS st1 volumes for data and log, with a snapshot schedule every 15 minutes, and enable fast snapshot restore.

Question 9

A company is running an SAP NetWeaver application server on AWS. The application servers are in an Auto Scaling group behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The company wants to ensure that the SAP application servers are properly registered with the ALB and that the ALB can route traffic only to healthy application servers. The SAP application servers use SAP Web Dispatcher for load balancing. Which two configurations should the company implement to meet these requirements? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Attach the SAP application servers to the ALB target group using the Auto Scaling group's target group attachment feature.. Configuring the ALB target group with an HTTP health check against a valid SAP URL ensures that only healthy application servers receive traffic. Attaching the Auto Scaling group to the target group automatically registers instances as they launch, keeping the ALB target group up to date. Together, these configurations provide proper registration and health monitoring.

Answer

Install the AWS Load Balancer Controller and configure an Ingress resource to register the SAP application servers with the ALB.

Answer

Deploy SAP Web Dispatcher on a separate EC2 instance and configure it as the target for the ALB, then have Web Dispatcher forward traffic to the application servers.

Answer

Configure the ALB to use TCP health checks on port 3200, which is the SAP dispatcher port.

Question 10

A company runs SAP S/4HANA on AWS and wants to ensure that its application servers can communicate with the HANA database with the lowest possible latency. The application servers and the database are in the same VPC and the same Availability Zone. The company has configured security groups and network ACLs. Which additional AWS networking feature should be enabled to achieve the lowest latency?

Accepted Answer

Enable enhanced networking with the Elastic Network Adapter (ENA) on all instances.. Enhanced networking with ENA provides lower latency and higher bandwidth by offloading network processing to dedicated hardware. For SAP S/4HANA, where application servers frequently communicate with the HANA database, reducing network latency improves overall performance. ENA is supported on most modern EC2 instance types and is recommended for SAP workloads. Global Accelerator, VPC peering, and jumbo frames do not address intra-VPC, same-AZ latency in the same way.

Answer

Configure AWS Global Accelerator to route traffic between the application servers and the database.

Answer

Set up a VPC peering connection between the application subnet and the database subnet.

Answer

Enable jumbo frames on all instances to increase the maximum transmission unit (MTU).

Question 11

A company runs an SAP NetWeaver application server on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). Users access the SAP GUI via a web browser using HTTPS. The security team requires that all traffic be encrypted in transit and that the ALB presents a certificate from AWS Certificate Manager (ACM). However, the SAP application servers currently use self-signed certificates for HTTPS. What should the SAP specialist do to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Configure the ALB to terminate SSL using an ACM certificate, and set the backend to HTTP while ensuring the EC2 instances are in a private subnet with security groups restricting access.. The ALB should terminate SSL using an ACM certificate for client connections, and the backend can use HTTP if the EC2 instances are isolated in private subnets with strict security groups. This meets the encryption in transit requirement for external traffic and maintains a secure internal network. ACM certificates cannot be installed on EC2 instances, so options suggesting that are invalid.

Answer

Use AWS Certificate Manager Private Certificate Authority to issue certificates for the EC2 instances and configure the ALB to re-encrypt traffic to the backend.

Answer

Replace the self-signed certificates on the EC2 instances with certificates issued by ACM and configure the ALB to pass through SSL.

Answer

Import the self-signed certificates into ACM and attach them to the ALB listener.

Question 12

A company is deploying SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP on AWS. The SAP application servers run on EC2 instances in an Auto Scaling group behind an Application Load Balancer (ALB). The company wants to ensure that SAP GUI sessions are not lost during scaling events or instance failures. Which configuration should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Enable sticky sessions (session affinity) on the ALB using application-controlled cookies.. SAP GUI sessions are stateful, so the load balancer must maintain session affinity. Application Load Balancer sticky sessions with application-controlled cookies ensure that all requests from a user during a session are routed to the same application server. This preserves session state and prevents users from being logged out during scaling events or instance failures. Other options either break session state or are not supported by SAP NetWeaver.

Answer

Use an Application Load Balancer with cross-zone load balancing enabled and disable sticky sessions.

Answer

Store SAP GUI session state in an Amazon ElastiCache for Redis cluster and use a Network Load Balancer.

Answer

Configure the ALB to use round-robin routing without session affinity.

Question 13

A company is running an SAP HANA database on an Amazon EC2 instance with 2 TB of memory. The company needs to optimize the cost of the HANA database while ensuring high availability across two Availability Zones. The company wants to use a cost-effective instance type that supports SAP HANA and can be quickly resized if needed. Which instance family should the solutions architect recommend for the HANA database?

Accepted Answer

Use x2iedn instances with a Savings Plan and deploy across two Availability Zones.. x2iedn instances are memory-optimized and certified for SAP HANA, supporting large memory sizes. A Savings Plan reduces cost, and deploying across two Availability Zones ensures high availability. This combination meets the cost and HA requirements.

Answer

Use r6i instances with On-Demand pricing and enable hibernation.

Answer

Use u-6tb1 instances with Dedicated Hosts and deploy in a single Availability Zone.

Answer

Use z1d instances with Spot Instances and deploy across two Availability Zones.

Question 14

A company is migrating an SAP ERP Central Component (ECC) system to AWS. The system uses an Oracle database on a single EC2 instance with Amazon EBS volumes. The company wants to minimize downtime during the final cutover. The database is approximately 2 TB in size. Which migration strategy should be used to achieve the shortest possible cutover window?

Accepted Answer

Use AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) to continuously replicate the entire EC2 instance to AWS, then launch a test instance and perform a final sync before cutover.. AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) provides block-level replication of the entire server, including the OS and database files. It continuously replicates changes, so the final cutover requires only a brief delta sync, minimizing downtime. This is the recommended approach for lift-and-shift migrations of SAP systems with large databases.

Answer

Use AWS Server Migration Service (SMS) to replicate the on-premises VM to Amazon EC2, then perform a final incremental replication during the cutover window.

Answer

Export the Oracle database using Oracle Data Pump, transfer the dump files to Amazon S3, and import them into an Amazon RDS for Oracle instance during the cutover window.

Answer

Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with change data capture (CDC) to replicate the Oracle database to an Amazon RDS for Oracle instance, then switch over during the cutover window.

Question 15

A company is running SAP S/4HANA on AWS with an SAP HANA database on an Amazon EC2 X1e instance. The database is 1.5 TB in size and experiences heavy read-intensive workloads. The storage administrator needs to configure Amazon EBS volumes to meet SAP's storage KPIs for IOPS and throughput. The company wants to use a single EBS volume for the data volume to simplify management. Which EBS volume type and configuration should they use?

Accepted Answer

Provision an io2 Block Express EBS volume with 100,000 IOPS and 4,000 MiB/s throughput, and attach it to the instance.. For large, performance-intensive SAP HANA databases on AWS, io2 Block Express EBS volumes are the recommended storage type. They provide the highest IOPS and throughput available for EBS, with sub-millisecond latency and high durability. A single io2 Block Express volume can meet the requirements for a 1.5 TB database with heavy read-intensive workloads, simplifying management. Other EBS types either do not provide sufficient performance or are not optimized for random I/O database workloads.

Answer

Provision an io1 EBS volume with 50,000 IOPS and attach it to the instance.

Answer

Provision a st1 EBS volume with 500 MiB/s throughput and attach it to the instance.

Answer

Provision a gp3 EBS volume with 16,000 IOPS and 1,000 MiB/s throughput, and attach it to the instance.