PAS-C01 Technology Practice Test 7 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company is running an SAP HANA database on an AWS EC2 instance. The SAP application team reports occasional performance issues during peak hours. The CloudWatch metrics show high CPU utilization. What is the MOST cost-effective solution to address this issue?

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

Accepted Answer

Migrate the instance to a larger instance type permanently.. For a single SAP HANA database instance, scaling up by migrating to a larger instance type (Option A) is the most effective solution because HANA databases are designed to scale vertically and cannot distribute CPU load across multiple instances. Option C is incorrect because Auto Scaling adds instances horizontally, which does not alleviate CPU pressure on the database server. Option A addresses the high CPU utilization directly and, when selecting a cost-optimized instance size, is more cost-effective than over-provisioning permanently or using inefficient scaling methods.

Answer

Enable termination protection on the instance.

Answer

Implement an EC2 Auto Scaling group with a scheduled scaling policy to add instances during peak hours.

Answer

Increase the provisioned IOPS for the EBS volumes attached to the instance.

Question 2

An SAP system on AWS uses a Multi-AZ DB instance for its database. The operations team notices that during a recent Availability Zone outage, the database failover did not occur automatically. What is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The secondary DB instance is in the same Availability Zone as the primary.. In a Multi-AZ DB instance deployment, AWS automatically provisions and maintains a standby DB instance in a different Availability Zone (AZ). If the primary DB instance fails or the AZ becomes unavailable, Amazon RDS automatically fails over to the standby. If the secondary DB instance is in the same AZ as the primary, a failure of that AZ will affect both instances, preventing automatic failover. This is the most likely cause because the Multi-AZ architecture relies on physical separation of AZs to provide high availability.

Answer

The database is configured with asynchronous replication.

Answer

The Multi-AZ option is not supported for this database engine.

Answer

The database is configured as a read replica.

Question 3

An SAP administrator needs to ensure that all changes to an SAP system's AWS resources are tracked and that alerts are sent when SSH access to EC2 instances is modified. Which AWS service should be used?

Accepted Answer

AWS CloudTrail. AWS CloudTrail is the correct service because it records API activity across your AWS infrastructure, including changes to EC2 security groups that control SSH access. By enabling CloudTrail, you can monitor for events like AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress and trigger alerts via CloudWatch Events or Lambda when SSH (port 22) rules are modified, meeting the audit and alerting requirements.

Answer

AWS Config

Answer

Amazon CloudWatch

Answer

AWS Trusted Advisor

Question 4

An SAP system running on AWS is experiencing high latency for database writes. The database is running on an RDS instance with General Purpose (gp2) storage. What change will PROVIDE the most immediate performance improvement?

Accepted Answer

Change the storage type to Provisioned IOPS (io1 or io2).. The SAP system is experiencing high latency for database writes, which is a latency-sensitive workload. General Purpose (gp2) storage provides a baseline of 3 IOPS per GB, but its burst model can lead to performance degradation under sustained high write loads. Changing to Provisioned IOPS (io1 or io2) guarantees consistent, low-latency I/O performance by allowing you to provision a specific number of IOPS independently of storage size, providing the most immediate performance improvement for write-heavy operations.

Answer

Add a read replica to offload read traffic.

Answer

Increase the allocated storage size to increase baseline IOPS.

Answer

Enable Multi-AZ deployment.

Question 5

An SAP system on AWS is experiencing slow performance for batch jobs. The jobs are I/O intensive and write large amounts of data to EBS volumes. CloudWatch metrics show that the EBS volumes are reaching their throughput limits. Which action will MOST effectively improve performance?

Accepted Answer

Increase the size of the EBS volumes to improve baseline throughput.. Increasing the size of EBS volumes directly improves their baseline throughput performance because EBS throughput scales with volume size. For gp2 volumes, baseline throughput is 128 MiB/s for volumes up to 170 GiB, then increases by 0.5 MiB/s per GiB beyond that; for gp3, baseline throughput is 125 MiB/s regardless of size, but you can provision additional throughput. Since the batch jobs are I/O-intensive and hitting throughput limits, larger volumes provide higher throughput without requiring architectural changes.

Answer

Add read replicas to offload read traffic.

Answer

Use Multi-AZ for the database.

Answer

Move the data to instance store volumes.

Question 6

Which THREE factors should be considered when choosing an EC2 instance type for an SAP HANA production system? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Amount of memory (RAM) required.. Option B is correct because SAP HANA is an in-memory database, so the EC2 instance must provide enough RAM to hold the entire working dataset in memory, making the memory size a primary sizing factor. Option C is correct because SAP HANA production systems depend heavily on low-latency, high-throughput networking for node-to-node communication, replication, and storage access, so network performance must be evaluated. Option E is correct because SAP HANA is certified only on specific processor architectures, and AWS offers SAP HANA-certified instances based on Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC, while ARM-based Graviton instances are not supported for SAP HANA production. Option A is not correct because SAP HANA production workloads are not primarily GPU-accelerated; GPU capabilities are not a standard selection factor for HANA instance types. Option D is not correct because EBS optimization is a general storage performance feature available on many instance types and is not one of the three primary SAP HANA instance-type selection factors, which center on memory, network, and certified processor architecture.

Answer

GPU capabilities for parallel processing.

Answer

Support for EBS optimization.

Question 7

A company is running an SAP HANA database on an AWS EC2 instance. The SAP application team reports occasional performance issues during peak hours. The CloudWatch metrics show high CPU utilization. What is the MOST cost-effective solution to address this issue?

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

Accepted Answer

Amazon CloudWatch. Amazon CloudWatch is the correct service because it provides detailed, customizable performance metrics for EC2 instances, including memory utilization, CPU, disk I/O, and network throughput. For SAP HANA, which is memory-intensive, CloudWatch can capture custom metrics (e.g., via the CloudWatch Agent) to monitor memory pressure and identify bottlenecks during peak loads, enabling performance analysis and scaling decisions.

Answer

AWS Config

Answer

AWS CloudTrail

Answer

AWS X-Ray

Question 8

A company is migrating an SAP system to AWS and needs to ensure high availability for the SAP Central Services (ASCS) instance. Which architecture should be used to meet this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Use a cluster of EC2 instances across two Availability Zones with shared storage and a cluster manager.. SAP Central Services (ASCS) requires a high-availability cluster that can fail over between physical hosts while maintaining shared storage and a quorum mechanism. Deploying a cluster of EC2 instances across two Availability Zones with shared storage (e.g., Amazon EFS or FSx for NetApp ONTAP) and a cluster manager (e.g., Pacemaker) meets this requirement by providing automatic failover and data consistency. This architecture aligns with SAP's official high-availability guidelines for AWS, which mandate multi-AZ deployment to tolerate an entire AZ failure.

Answer

Deploy the ASCS on a single large EC2 instance with a Multi-Attach EBS volume.

Answer

Use an Auto Scaling group with a launch configuration for ASCS.

Answer

Deploy two EC2 instances in the same Availability Zone with a replicated file system.

Question 9

An SAP administrator uses an IAM role attached to an EC2 instance to perform backups. The backup script fails when trying to write to an S3 bucket and create EBS snapshots. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The trust policy does not include the EC2 service principal.. The most likely cause is that the trust policy of the IAM role does not include the EC2 service principal (ec2.amazonaws.com). Without this, the EC2 instance cannot assume the role, causing all AWS API calls from the backup script to fail, including writing to S3 and creating EBS snapshots. Options A and C only affect specific actions, and D incorrectly includes s3:ListBucket as a requirement.

Answer

The S3 bucket policy denies all writes from this role.

Answer

The role does not have permission to create snapshots due to an explicit deny.

Answer

The policy lacks 's3:ListBucket' and 'ec2:CreateSnapshot' requires volume ARN.

Question 10

A company needs to set up a disaster recovery solution for SAP on AWS with a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 15 minutes and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 2 hours. Which strategy is most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

Use cross-region backup and restore with AWS Backup.. Cross-region backup and restore with AWS Backup is the most appropriate strategy because it meets both the RPO of 15 minutes and RTO of 2 hours for SAP on AWS. AWS Backup supports continuous backups for SAP HANA databases with a 15-minute RPO via Backint integration, and restoring from a cross-region backup can complete within 2 hours for typical SAP workloads. This approach provides the required recovery point and time objectives while maintaining data durability across AWS Regions.

Answer

Deploy all SAP components in a single AWS Region.

Answer

Use Multi-AZ deployment for the database.

Answer

Set up a pilot light environment with database replication.

Question 11

An SAP system is running on AWS and needs to be migrated from a current generation instance (r3) to a newer generation (r5). What is the recommended process to minimize downtime?

Accepted Answer

Stop the instance, change the instance type, and start the instance.. Stopping the instance is required to change the instance type for EC2 instances that are not configured for 'Stop/Start' hibernation or Nitro-based instance compatibility. For SAP systems running on current-generation instances (r3), which are Xen-based, a stop is necessary to modify the instance type to r5 (Nitro-based). This process minimizes downtime by allowing the instance to be stopped, changed, and started in a controlled manner, typically taking only a few minutes.

Answer

Modify the instance type while the instance is running.

Answer

Create an AMI of the r3 instance and launch an r5 instance from it.

Answer

Launch a new r5 instance and migrate the SAP system.

Question 12

Which TWO AWS services can be used to monitor SAP system performance and send alerts? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Amazon CloudWatch. Amazon CloudWatch (B) is correct because it is the native AWS monitoring service that collects metrics, logs, and events from SAP systems running on EC2 (via the CloudWatch agent), and its alarms can trigger notifications through Amazon SNS when thresholds are breached. AWS Lambda (D) is correct because it can be invoked by CloudWatch alarms or EventBridge rules to run custom logic that evaluates SAP performance data and sends alerts (e.g., via SNS, SES, or Slack), enabling automated alerting workflows. AWS Config (A) is not designed for performance monitoring; it records resource configuration changes and evaluates compliance against rules. Amazon Inspector (C) is a vulnerability management service that scans for software vulnerabilities and network exposure, not runtime performance. AWS Trusted Advisor (E) provides best-practice checks and recommendations across cost, security, and limits, but it does not monitor SAP system performance metrics or send performance alerts.

Answer

AWS Config

Answer

Amazon Inspector

Answer

AWS Trusted Advisor

Question 13

Which TWO AWS services can be used to store SAP backup data? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Amazon S3. Amazon S3 (A) is correct because it is AWS's primary object storage service and is a standard, supported target for storing SAP backup data, including SAP HANA and SAP ASE backups via tools like Backint and AWS Storage Gateway. Amazon S3 Glacier (B) is also correct because it is a low-cost archival storage service designed for long-term retention of backup data, and SAP backup files can be tiered or written directly to Glacier storage classes for durable, infrequent-access retention. Amazon RDS (C) is a managed relational database service, not a backup storage target, so it does not belong. Amazon DynamoDB (D) is a NoSQL key-value database service, not intended for storing SAP backup files. Amazon EBS (E) provides block storage volumes for EC2 instances and, while it can hold data locally, it is not the service used as a durable SAP backup repository in this context.

Answer

Amazon RDS

Answer

Amazon DynamoDB

Answer

Amazon EBS

Question 14

A company runs SAP S/4HANA on AWS with a production database on an r5.24xlarge instance and 15 application servers on r5.4xlarge instances. The system has been stable for months. Recently, the database instance started experiencing high CPU utilization during peak hours, causing performance degradation. The company has reserved capacity for the database instance. The SAP team has already optimized the SQL queries and reduced the CPU usage by 20%, but the CPU still spikes to 95% during peak hours. The team is considering upgrading the database instance to a larger type. However, the next larger instance type (r5.32xlarge) is not available in the current Availability Zone. The company needs a solution that minimizes downtime and cost. What should be done?

Accepted Answer

Stop the database instance, change to a larger instance type in a different Availability Zone, and use a placement group with the application servers.. Stopping the database instance allows changing to a larger instance type. Since r5.32xlarge is not available in the current AZ, the instance must be moved to a different AZ where it is available. Note that cluster placement groups cannot span Availability Zones, so to use a placement group, the application servers would also need to be moved to the same AZ, increasing downtime. Therefore, the most cost-effective and minimally disruptive approach is to simply move the database instance to the new AZ and accept the minimal cross-AZ latency, which is acceptable for SAP workloads. This avoids the need to recertify a different instance family as in option B, and options C and D do not address the database bottleneck.

Answer

Migrate the database to a different instance family, such as x1e.32xlarge.

Answer

Use an Auto Scaling group to automatically scale the database instance.

Answer

Add more application servers to distribute the load.

Question 15

A company is deploying SAP NetWeaver on AWS and wants to ensure high availability for the SAP Central Services (ASCS) and Enqueue Replication Server (ERS). They plan to use a cluster manager (Pacemaker) with a shared filesystem. The cluster will span two Availability Zones. The storage for the shared filesystem must be highly available and provide consistent performance. What storage solution should be used?

Accepted Answer

Use Amazon EFS for the shared filesystem.. Amazon EFS provides a highly available, scalable, and shared NFS filesystem that can be mounted across multiple Availability Zones, making it the correct choice for a Pacemaker cluster spanning two AZs that requires a shared filesystem for SAP ASCS/ERS. EFS delivers consistent performance and is designed for multi-AZ access, which aligns with the high availability requirement.

Answer

Use an Amazon S3 bucket as the shared filesystem.

Answer

Use instance store volumes (Local SSDs) on each node.

Answer

Use an Amazon EBS volume with Multi-Attach enabled.