PAS-C01 Technology Practice Test 26 — 15 Questions

Question 1

An SAP system uses AWS Direct Connect to connect to on-premises systems. The SAP application servers are in a private subnet, and the HANA database is in a separate private subnet. Both subnets are in the same VPC. The application servers can connect to the HANA database, but the application servers cannot connect to an on-premises file server via the Direct Connect. The on-premises network team confirms that the file server is reachable from other on-premises resources. The VPC route tables have a route for the on-premises CIDR pointing to the Direct Connect virtual gateway. The security groups allow all outbound traffic. What is the MOST likely cause of the issue?

Accepted Answer

The route table associated with the application subnet does not have a route to the on-premises CIDR via the virtual gateway.. Option B is correct because the route table for the application subnet must have a route to the on-premises CIDR via the virtual gateway. Option A (NACL) is unlikely if outbound is allowed. Option C (Direct Connect status) is not indicated. Option D (VPN) is not used.

Answer

The network ACL for the application subnet is blocking outbound traffic to the on-premises CIDR.

Answer

The on-premises file server is not reachable because it requires VPN instead of Direct Connect.

Answer

The Direct Connect virtual interface is in a 'down' state.

Question 2

A company has deployed SAP S/4HANA on AWS using a single EC2 instance for the HANA database. The database volume is an EBS io1 volume with 5,000 provisioned IOPS. The company wants to implement a high availability (HA) solution for the database using SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) with automatic failover. They plan to use a second EC2 instance in a different Availability Zone. The database administrator is concerned about data consistency during replication. Which additional AWS service should be used to ensure data consistency and minimize data loss during failover?

Accepted Answer

Amazon Route53 with health checks to automatically redirect traffic to the standby instance.. Option C is correct because Elastic Load Balancing with a TCP listener can be used to front the HSR traffic and provide a floating IP. Alternatively, Amazon Route53 with health checks can redirect clients. Option A (EBS snapshots) are for backup, not replication. Option B (AWS Backup) is not for replication. Option D (DMS) is for migration.

Answer

AWS Backup to schedule backups of the HANA database.

Answer

AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) to continuously replicate data.

Answer

Amazon EBS snapshots to capture point-in-time copies of the data volume.

Question 3

A company runs a critical SAP HANA database on an m5.24xlarge EC2 instance. The database has high transaction volume and requires low latency storage. The current setup uses EBS gp2 volumes with 10,000 IOPS. During peak hours, the database performance degrades due to IOPS burst balance depletion. Which storage solution should the company use to maintain consistent performance?

Accepted Answer

Provision EBS io2 Block Express volumes with 10,000 provisioned IOPS.. Option C is correct because EBS io2 Block Express volumes provide consistent IOPS performance without bursting and support higher IOPS than gp2. Option A is wrong because gp3 provides baseline 3000 IOPS and burst, but may not guarantee the required 10,000 IOPS. Option B is wrong because Instance Store provides ephemeral storage, which is not persistent and may cause data loss on instance stop. Option D is wrong because EFS is a file system, not suitable for high-performance database block storage.

Answer

Migrate to EBS gp3 volumes with provisioned IOPS of 10,000.

Answer

Use EC2 Instance Store (NVMe SSD) for the database data and logs.

Answer

Move the database to Amazon EFS with provisioned throughput.

Question 4

A company is migrating its SAP environment to AWS and wants to use SAP HANA as a Service on AWS (HANA database on AWS). The SAP application tier will run on EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer. The company requires high availability for the database with automatic failover in case of an AZ failure. Which architecture should the company implement?

Accepted Answer

Set up HANA System Replication between two EC2 instances in different AZs with automatic failover.. Option B is correct because HANA System Replication with automatic failover in a multi-AZ setup provides high availability; using a secondary instance in a different AZ allows failover. Option A is wrong because a single AZ is not resilient. Option C is wrong because a standby instance in the same AZ does not protect against AZ failure. Option D is wrong because HANA replication to S3 is not supported for automatic failover.

Answer

Configure HANA replication to Amazon S3 for point-in-time recovery.

Answer

Use HANA System Replication with a synchronous secondary in the same AZ.

Answer

Deploy a single HANA database on a large EC2 instance in one AZ with regular backups to S3.

Question 5

An SAP administrator needs to monitor the memory usage of an SAP HANA database running on an EC2 instance. The administrator wants to receive alerts when memory usage exceeds 90% for more than 5 minutes. Which AWS service should be used to set up this monitoring and alerting?

Accepted Answer

Amazon CloudWatch with custom metrics. Option B is correct because CloudWatch can collect custom metrics from the HANA instance and trigger alarms. Option A is wrong because AWS Config is for configuration compliance, not monitoring. Option C is wrong because Trusted Advisor provides best practice checks, not custom monitoring. Option D is wrong because CloudTrail is for API auditing.

Answer

AWS Trusted Advisor

Answer

AWS Config

Answer

AWS CloudTrail

Question 6

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.. Option C is correct because AWS Direct Connect provides a dedicated network connection with lower latency and higher throughput than VPN. Option A is wrong because a NAT Gateway is for outbound internet access, not for on-premises connectivity. Option B is wrong because VPC Peering is for connecting VPCs, not on-premises. Option D is wrong because increasing VPN tunnel bandwidth may help but still has higher latency than Direct Connect.

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 7

During an SAP migration to AWS, the migration team faces a challenge with the Transport Management System (TMS). The SAP system landscape includes development, quality assurance, and production systems running on separate EC2 instances. The TMS is configured with transport routes between these systems. After migration, transports fail with errors related to missing files on the transport directory. What should the team do to ensure the TMS works correctly?

Accepted Answer

Set up an Amazon EFS file system and mount it as the transport directory on all SAP instances.. Option D is correct because TMS relies on a shared transport directory; using EFS with NFS provides a shared file system accessible by all instances. Option A is wrong because S3 is object storage and not compatible as a transport directory. Option B is wrong because EBS volumes are block storage and cannot be shared across multiple instances. Option C is wrong because SMB on AWS is not a standard solution for TMS.

Answer

Create an EBS volume for each SAP system and copy transport files manually.

Answer

Store the transport directory in an S3 bucket and mount it using S3FS.

Answer

Use AWS Storage Gateway with SMB file share to host the transport directory.

Question 8

An SAP on AWS deployment uses an Auto Scaling group for the SAP application tier. The application is stateless and can scale out and in based on CPU utilization. Which scaling policy should be used to add new instances during peak load and remove them when the load decreases?

Accepted Answer

Target tracking scaling policy with a target CPU utilization of 70%.. Option B is correct because a target tracking scaling policy is the simplest and most automated way to maintain a target CPU utilization. Option A is wrong because simple scaling does not adjust dynamically. Option C is wrong because scheduled scaling is for predictable loads, not dynamic. Option D is wrong because step scaling requires manual configuration of steps.

Answer

Simple scaling policy based on CPU utilization.

Answer

Step scaling policy with multiple steps for different CPU thresholds.

Answer

Scheduled scaling policy to add instances during business hours.

Question 9

A company runs SAP on AWS and uses AWS KMS for encryption of EBS volumes. The security team requires that the EBS volumes used for SAP HANA data and log files be encrypted with a customer-managed key. They also want to ensure that the key cannot be deleted. What should the security team do to protect the KMS key?

Accepted Answer

Set a key policy that prevents the kms:ScheduleKeyDeletion action.. Option B is correct because enabling key rotation does not prevent deletion; the correct approach is to use a multi-Region key (not relevant) or implement deletion protection via a resource-based policy, but the simplest is to enable deletion protection by setting a key policy that denies deletion. However, among the options, 'Enable automatic key rotation' is a best practice but does not prevent deletion. The actual method to prevent deletion is to set a key policy that denies the kms:ScheduleKeyDeletion action. Since that is not an option, the closest is to set a key policy to prevent deletion, but it's not listed. Given the choices, option B is the only one that helps with key management but not deletion prevention. The question is flawed; I'll correct: The correct answer is to set a key policy that denies deletion. None of the options directly say that, so I'll adjust the options. Revised:

Answer

Use an AWS managed key instead of a customer-managed key.

Answer

Store the key in AWS Secrets Manager.

Answer

Enable automatic key rotation.

Question 10

An SAP Basis administrator needs to apply an SAP kernel patch to the SAP Central Services (ASCS) instance running on an EC2 instance in a Multi-AZ deployment. The ASCS instance is configured with a floating IP address using Elastic IP. The administrator wants to minimize downtime during the patching process. Which approach should the administrator take?

Accepted Answer

Create a new EC2 instance with the patched kernel, associate the Elastic IP to the new instance, and terminate the old one.. Option A is correct because a blue/green deployment allows testing the patch on a new instance and then switching traffic with minimal downtime. Option B is wrong because stopping the instance causes downtime. Option C is wrong because modifying the launch configuration and performing a rolling update is for Auto Scaling groups, not for a single instance. Option D is wrong because adding the instance to an ALB would require application changes and may not be compatible with ASCS floating IP.

Answer

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

Answer

Add the ASCS instance to an Application Load Balancer and then perform the patch.

Answer

Use an Auto Scaling group with a rolling update to apply the patch.

Question 11

A company is using AWS Systems Manager to automate patching of SAP application servers. The patching process should run during a maintenance window every Sunday at 2 AM. Which Systems Manager capability should be used to schedule the patching?

Accepted Answer

Maintenance Windows. Option D is correct because Maintenance Windows allow scheduling of patching operations. Option A is wrong because State Manager is for configuration management. Option B is wrong because Patch Manager is for patching but needs a schedule; Maintenance Window triggers it. Option C is wrong because Automation is for runbooks.

Answer

Automation

Answer

Patch Manager

Answer

State Manager

Question 12

A company runs its SAP HANA database on a single EC2 instance with EBS storage. The database is critical and the company needs to ensure data durability and recoverability in case of a disaster. Which TWO actions should the company take?

Accepted Answer

Configure automated backups of the HANA database to Amazon S3.. Option A is correct because backups to S3 provide durable storage. Option C is correct because HANA System Replication to a secondary instance in another AZ provides high availability. Option B is wrong because EBS snapshots are stored in the same region and not sufficient for disaster recovery. Option D is wrong because Multi-AZ for RDS is for RDS, not EC2. Option E is wrong because Cross-Region Replication is for S3, not for live database replication.

Answer

Enable Multi-AZ deployment for the HANA database on RDS.

Answer

Take periodic EBS snapshots and copy them to another region.

Answer

Use Cross-Region Replication for the EBS volumes.

Question 13

An SAP system on AWS is experiencing performance issues during peak hours. The system includes SAP application servers and a HANA database. The CloudWatch metrics show high CPU utilization on the application servers and high disk read latency on the database EBS volumes. Which THREE actions should be taken to improve performance?

Accepted Answer

Increase the provisioned IOPS on the EBS volumes attached to the HANA database.. Option A is correct because adding more application servers distributes load. Option C is correct because provisioning higher IOPS reduces disk latency. Option E is correct because scaling up the instance provides more CPU. Option B is wrong because a NAT Gateway does not affect performance. Option D is wrong because a read replica does not help with write-heavy workloads or disk latency.

Answer

Add a NAT Gateway to the VPC to improve network performance.

Answer

Deploy a read replica for the HANA database.

Question 14

A company is planning to migrate its SAP environment to AWS. The SAP landscape includes development, test, and production systems. The company wants to ensure data security and compliance. Which THREE AWS services should the company use to achieve this?

Accepted Answer

AWS Key Management Service (KMS) for encryption of EBS volumes and S3 buckets.. Option A is correct because KMS encrypts data at rest. Option C is correct because CloudTrail logs API calls for auditing. Option D is correct because IAM manages access control. Option B is wrong because Direct Connect is for connectivity, not security. Option E is wrong because Elastic Load Balancing is for traffic distribution.

Answer

AWS Direct Connect for dedicated network connection.

Answer

Elastic Load Balancing for distributing traffic.

Question 15

A company runs its SAP ERP system on AWS. The SAP application servers are in an Auto Scaling group across two Availability Zones. The SAP HANA database runs on a single EC2 instance in us-east-1a. The database instance has an Elastic IP and uses EBS io1 volumes with 5000 provisioned IOPS. During a recent deployment, the company experienced a complete outage when the Availability Zone us-east-1a became unavailable due to a power failure. The database was unavailable for 6 hours until the zone recovered. The company wants to implement a highly available architecture that can automatically recover from an AZ failure with minimal data loss. The Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is 15 minutes and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is 30 minutes. What should the company do?

Accepted Answer

Set up HANA System Replication with synchronous replication to a secondary instance in us-east-1b and configure automatic takeover.. Option D is correct because HANA System Replication in sync mode with automatic takeover meets the RPO and RTO. Option A is wrong because a single AZ still has the same risk. Option B is wrong because Multi-AZ for RDS is not applicable to HANA on EC2. Option C is wrong because EBS snapshots have an RPO of hours, not 15 minutes.

Answer

Take EBS snapshots every 15 minutes and copy them to another region.

Answer

Move the HANA database to a larger instance in the same Availability Zone and increase IOPS to 10000.

Answer

Migrate the HANA database to Amazon RDS for SAP HANA with Multi-AZ enabled.