PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Test 20 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company is deploying SAP NetWeaver Application Server ABAP on AWS. The system will use an Oracle database on a separate EC2 instance. The company requires a highly available and scalable file system for SAP global directories such as /sapmnt, /usr/sap/trans, and /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS. The file system must be accessible from multiple application servers concurrently and support POSIX-compliant locking. Which AWS storage solution should be used?

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

Accepted Answer

Amazon EFS with General Purpose performance mode and Bursting throughput mode. Amazon EFS is the recommended AWS service for SAP NetWeaver shared file systems. It provides a scalable, POSIX-compliant, and highly available NFS file system that can be mounted on multiple EC2 instances simultaneously. It supports the necessary locking for SAP global directories. Other options like FSx for Windows, EBS Multi-Attach, or S3-based solutions do not meet the POSIX and locking requirements or are not supported for SAP on Linux.

Answer

Amazon EBS Multi-Attach enabled io1 volumes attached to all application servers

Answer

Amazon S3 mounted as a file system using s3fs on each application server

Answer

Amazon FSx for Windows File Server with Multi-AZ deployment

Question 2

An SAP NetWeaver ABAP application server runs on Amazon EC2 instances behind an Application Load Balancer, and the SAP GUI clients connect through a corporate network over the internet. The security team requires that SAP GUI traffic be encrypted in transit and that only SAP GUI protocol traffic reach the application servers, while the load balancer must not terminate the SAP-specific protocol. Which combination of listener and target group configuration should be used?

Accepted Answer

Create a TCP listener on port 4433, and register the application servers in an instance target group on the SAP GUI port, using a Network Load Balancer so the SAP GUI protocol passes through without decryption at the load balancer.. SAP GUI traffic uses a proprietary protocol with its own encryption, so the load balancer must pass the TCP stream through untouched. A Network Load Balancer with a TCP listener on the SAP GUI port forwards packets to the registered application server instances without inspecting or decrypting them, which satisfies both the encryption and the traffic-restriction requirements. An Application Load Balancer cannot parse the SAP GUI protocol and would break the session.

Answer

Create a TLS listener on port 443 with an ACM certificate, and register the application servers in an instance target group on the SAP GUI port so the load balancer decrypts and re-encrypts the traffic.

Answer

Create an HTTP listener on port 80, and register the application servers in an IP target group on the SAP GUI port, relying on the SAP GUI client to negotiate encryption after the initial HTTP handshake.

Answer

Create a TLS listener on port 443, and configure the SAP GUI clients to connect directly to the application server instances by using their private IP addresses, bypassing the load balancer entirely.

Question 3

A company is migrating a large SAP Business Warehouse (BW) system to AWS. The system uses a HANA database and experiences heavy read-intensive workloads during month-end reporting. The company wants to optimize the AWS infrastructure for performance and cost. Which TWO actions should be taken to achieve these goals? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Configure the HANA database to use multiple EBS volumes in a RAID 0 configuration for the data volume to increase IOPS and throughput.. To optimize performance for read-intensive SAP BW on HANA, using high-IOPS EBS volumes such as io2 Block Express and striping multiple volumes in RAID 0 increases the available IOPS and throughput. These actions directly address the performance bottleneck during month-end reporting. Other options either increase cost without proportional benefit, are not applicable to BW, or are not cost-effective for backup storage.

Answer

Implement SAP HANA dynamic tiering to offload less frequently accessed data to a secondary storage tier, reducing the memory footprint.

Answer

Enable Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering for the HANA backup files stored in S3 to automatically optimize storage costs.

Answer

Deploy the HANA database on an EC2 instance with the highest available memory and CPU, such as an X2iedn instance, to ensure maximum performance.

Question 4

A company is planning to migrate its SAP HANA database to AWS. The database is currently 2 TB in size and is expected to grow to 5 TB within two years. The company requires a storage solution that provides high availability, durability, and low-latency performance for the HANA database. The solution must also support SAP HANA's write-heavy workload and provide consistent IOPS. Which storage option should be used for the HANA database?

Accepted Answer

Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes. The correct answer is Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes. They are specifically designed for high-performance, low-latency workloads such as SAP HANA. They offer high IOPS and durability, meeting the requirements for a production HANA database. Other options either lack the necessary performance characteristics or are not supported for HANA database storage.

Answer

Amazon FSx for Lustre file system

Answer

Amazon S3 with SAP HANA Vora

Answer

Amazon EBS gp3 volumes

Question 5

A company is planning to migrate its SAP Business Suite on Oracle database to AWS. The database is currently running on physical servers and is approximately 2 TB in size. The company wants to minimize downtime during the migration and ensure data consistency. Which AWS service should be used to migrate the Oracle database to Amazon EC2?

Accepted Answer

Oracle Data Guard with a physical standby database on EC2, and then perform a switchover.. Oracle Data Guard with a physical standby database on EC2 allows for continuous replication of the primary database to the standby. When ready, a switchover can be performed with minimal downtime, typically just the time to switch roles. This method ensures data consistency and is well-suited for migrating large Oracle databases to AWS with minimal downtime. Other methods like DMS, MGN, or Data Pump either target the wrong platform or involve significant downtime.

Answer

AWS Application Migration Service (MGN) to replicate the entire server, including the Oracle database, to EC2.

Answer

AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with Oracle as the source and Amazon RDS for Oracle as the target.

Answer

Export the Oracle database using Data Pump, transfer the dump files to Amazon S3, and import them into an Oracle database on EC2.

Question 6

A company runs an SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP system on a single c5.4xlarge EC2 instance with SAP MaxDB. They need to add a read-intensive secondary application server to handle reporting workloads, but want to minimize licensing costs and administrative overhead. The system must be able to survive an Availability Zone failure with minimal data loss. Which deployment approach should be used?

Accepted Answer

Deploy the secondary application server in a different Availability Zone and configure a highly available NFS server using Amazon EBS volumes with DRBD or a third-party cluster solution for /sapmnt and /usr/sap/trans.. SAP NetWeaver requires shared file systems (/sapmnt, /usr/sap/trans) that support POSIX locking and concurrent access. A highly available NFS server built on EBS volumes with a cluster solution like DRBD or Pacemaker across Availability Zones provides the necessary consistency and fault tolerance. Other options use unsupported services or introduce data inconsistency.

Answer

Deploy the secondary application server in the same Availability Zone as the primary and use a shared Amazon EBS volume attached to both instances for /sapmnt.

Answer

Deploy the secondary application server in a different Availability Zone and replicate the /sapmnt and /usr/sap/trans directories using AWS DataSync or rsync on a scheduled basis.

Answer

Deploy the secondary application server in a different Availability Zone and use an Amazon EFS file system mounted on both instances for /sapmnt and transport directories.

Question 7

A company is planning to migrate its SAP ERP system to AWS. The system uses an Oracle database and runs on AIX on-premises. The company wants to minimize the migration effort and avoid re-platforming the database. Which migration strategy should be used?

Accepted Answer

Rehost the SAP ERP system and Oracle database to Amazon EC2 instances, using the same operating system and database version.. Rehosting the SAP ERP system and Oracle database to Amazon EC2 is the best strategy to minimize migration effort. It involves moving the existing system to the cloud without significant changes. While AIX is not available on EC2, switching to Linux is a relatively small change compared to re-platforming or refactoring, and it preserves the Oracle database version.

Answer

Retire the SAP ERP system and replace it with a cloud-native solution.

Answer

Refactor the SAP ERP system to use SAP HANA and deploy on AWS.

Answer

Re-platform the Oracle database to Amazon RDS for Oracle and migrate the SAP application to EC2.

Question 8

A company is planning to deploy SAP Business Suite on AWS. The company wants to ensure that the underlying infrastructure meets SAP's performance requirements for the database. Which AWS service should be used to validate the performance of the EC2 instance and EBS volumes before deploying SAP?

Accepted Answer

SAP HANA hardware and cloud measurement tools (HCMT). SAP HANA hardware and cloud measurement tools (HCMT) are specifically designed to benchmark and certify infrastructure for SAP HANA. AWS provides documentation and support for running HCMT on EC2 instances to validate performance before production deployment. This ensures that the chosen instance type and storage configuration meet SAP's KPIs.

Answer

AWS Compute Optimizer

Answer

AWS Trusted Advisor

Answer

Amazon CloudWatch

Question 9

A company is deploying a new SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP system on AWS. The system will use an Oracle database on a separate EC2 instance. The company requires that the database and application servers be placed in different Availability Zones for high availability, with synchronous replication between the primary and standby database. Which storage configuration should be used for the Oracle database to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes with Oracle Data Guard in maximum availability mode.. The requirement is for synchronous replication between database instances in different Availability Zones. Oracle Data Guard in maximum availability mode provides this at the database level, ensuring zero data loss. EBS io2 Block Express volumes offer the high performance needed for Oracle databases supporting SAP. Other options either do not support cross-AZ replication, are not block storage, or are not suitable for Oracle database files.

Answer

Amazon FSx for Windows File Server with DFS Replication between the two Availability Zones.

Answer

Amazon S3 with Cross-Region Replication and Oracle ASM on top of S3.

Answer

Amazon EBS gp3 volumes with Multi-Attach enabled for the database instances in both Availability Zones.

Question 10

A company runs SAP S/4HANA on AWS. The application servers are on c5.4xlarge EC2 instances, and the HANA database runs on an x1e.16xlarge instance with a single 4-TB gp3 EBS volume. Users report periodic slowdowns in month-end reporting. Amazon CloudWatch metrics show that the gp3 volume's IOPS consistently hits its provisioned limit of 16,000 IOPS. The company wants a solution that provides predictable high IOPS for the HANA data volume without changing the instance type. What should a SAP solutions architect recommend?

Accepted Answer

Replace the gp3 volume with an io2 Block Express volume provisioned with the required IOPS.. The scenario describes a gp3 volume that has reached its provisioned IOPS ceiling, causing performance degradation. To achieve predictable high IOPS for SAP HANA without changing the instance type, the architect should choose a storage option that offers higher IOPS and lower latency. io2 Block Express volumes are specifically designed for such demanding workloads and can be provisioned with the required IOPS, making them the appropriate choice.

Answer

Move the HANA data volume to an instance store volume on the existing x1e.16xlarge instance.

Answer

Enable EBS Multi-Attach on the gp3 volume and attach it to multiple application servers.

Answer

Increase the size of the gp3 volume to 8 TB and keep the provisioned IOPS at 16,000.

Question 11

A company runs an SAP NetWeaver Java stack on AWS and wants to decouple the application servers from the database during peak batch processing so that sudden spikes in write requests do not overload the database. The database must remain the system of record, and the application must tolerate eventual consistency. Which AWS service should be introduced between the application servers and the database?

Accepted Answer

Amazon SQS FIFO queue that buffers write requests and delivers them to a consumer process that persists them to the database.. A queue is the standard decoupling mechanism for absorbing bursts between application servers and a database. Amazon SQS FIFO preserves the order of related write requests and provides durable buffering, while a consumer process persists the messages to the SAP database, which stays the system of record. Caches, streaming delivery services, and database replication tools do not provide ordered, durable request buffering for this pattern.

Answer

Amazon Kinesis Data Firehose with a delivery stream that writes records directly into the SAP database tables through a custom Lambda function.

Answer

AWS Database Migration Service with ongoing replication enabled to keep a second copy of the SAP database synchronized during batch windows.

Answer

Amazon ElastiCache for Redis configured as a write-back cache in front of the database, with the cache treated as the authoritative data store.

Question 12

A company is designing a disaster recovery (DR) strategy for its SAP HANA database on AWS. The primary system runs on an EC2 instance with EBS volumes in eu-west-1. The RPO is 15 minutes and RTO is 2 hours. The company wants to minimize cost while ensuring the DR site can be activated quickly. Which TWO AWS services or features should be used together to meet these requirements? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

SAP HANA system replication (HSR) in asynchronous mode to a secondary EC2 instance. SAP HANA system replication in asynchronous mode provides continuous replication with an RPO of seconds to minutes, meeting the 15-minute requirement. It ensures application consistency on the secondary site. AWS CloudFormation automates the provisioning and configuration of the DR infrastructure, enabling rapid activation within the 2-hour RTO. Together, they form a cost-effective and reliable DR solution. Other options either do not provide the necessary replication consistency or are not suitable for cross-Region DR.

Answer

AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (DRS) for continuous block-level replication

Answer

Amazon EBS multi-attach volumes shared between primary and DR instances

Answer

Amazon S3 Cross-Region Replication for HANA data and log backups

Question 13

A company runs an SAP S/4HANA production system on a single AWS Availability Zone using an Amazon EC2 X1e instance with a single Amazon EBS gp3 volume for the HANA data volume. The disaster recovery plan requires a recovery point objective (RPO) of 5 minutes and a recovery time objective (RTO) of 2 hours in a second Availability Zone. The company wants to minimize cost and operational overhead. Which solution should a SAP specialist recommend?

Accepted Answer

Deploy a secondary SAP HANA system in the second Availability Zone and configure SAP HANA system replication in asynchronous mode with log shipping.. SAP HANA system replication in asynchronous mode is the appropriate native mechanism to achieve a short RPO and RTO across Availability Zones. It replicates redo log entries continuously, supports automated takeover, and avoids the complexity of third-party replication tools. EBS snapshots and AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery do not provide the required SAP HANA consistency or the 5-minute RPO without additional orchestration.

Answer

Create a multi-AZ file system using Amazon FSx for Lustre and place the HANA data volume on it, then mount it from both Availability Zones.

Answer

Use AWS Backup to take hourly EBS snapshots of the HANA data volume and copy them to the second Availability Zone.

Answer

Configure AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery for the EC2 instance and replicate the EBS volumes to a staging area in the second Availability Zone.

Question 14

An SAP administrator is designing a disaster recovery solution for an SAP HANA database on AWS. The primary site runs in us-east-1, and the DR site will be in us-west-2. The RPO must be less than 15 minutes, and the RTO must be less than 2 hours. Which approach is most cost-effective and meets these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Use SAP HANA System Replication in asynchronous mode to a smaller EC2 instance in us-west-2, and automate failover with AWS CloudFormation.. Asynchronous HANA System Replication to a smaller instance in a different region is the most cost-effective way to meet an RPO of less than 15 minutes and an RTO of less than 2 hours. It avoids the performance impact of synchronous replication over long distances and reduces cost by using a smaller instance. Automation with CloudFormation streamlines failover.

Answer

Use SAP HANA System Replication in synchronous mode to an identical EC2 instance in us-west-2, and use Amazon Route 53 for failover.

Answer

Take hourly Amazon EBS snapshots of the HANA database and copy them to us-west-2, and restore from snapshots during a disaster.

Answer

Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) to continuously replicate the HANA database to an Amazon RDS for SAP HANA instance in us-west-2.

Question 15

A company is deploying SAP NetWeaver on AWS and wants to ensure high availability across two Availability Zones. The SAP central services (SCS) instance runs on a single EC2 instance in one Availability Zone, and the database runs on a separate EC2 instance in another Availability Zone. The company wants automatic failover of the SCS instance to the second Availability Zone if the primary fails. Which solution should a SAP solutions architect recommend?

Accepted Answer

Set up a Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC) or Pacemaker cluster across two EC2 instances in different Availability Zones, with a overlay IP and a shared file system using Amazon EFS.. High availability for SAP NetWeaver central services on AWS requires a cluster solution that can manage a virtual IP and shared storage across Availability Zones. A Windows Server Failover Cluster or Pacemaker cluster with an overlay IP and Amazon EFS for the shared file system provides automatic failover and meets the requirement. Other options do not provide the necessary cluster management or automatic failover capabilities.

Answer

Place the SCS instance behind an Application Load Balancer and register both the primary and standby SCS instances in the target group.

Answer

Configure an Auto Scaling group with a minimum and maximum size of 1, and use a launch template that includes the SCS installation.

Answer

Use AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery to replicate the SCS instance to another Availability Zone and perform a manual failover.