PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Test 38 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company is planning to migrate its SAP Business Suite on Oracle database to AWS. The database is currently running on physical servers with direct-attached storage. The company wants to use Amazon EBS for the database volumes. Which EBS volume type should be used for the Oracle data files to achieve the best performance?

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

Accepted Answer

Provisioned IOPS SSD (io2). Oracle databases in SAP environments require high-performance storage with consistent low latency and high IOPS. Provisioned IOPS SSD (io2) volumes are specifically designed for such demanding workloads, offering the highest levels of performance and durability among EBS volume types. They allow fine-grained provisioning of IOPS and are recommended by AWS for production SAP databases.

Answer

General Purpose SSD (gp3)

Answer

Throughput Optimized HDD (st1)

Answer

Cold HDD (sc1)

Question 2

An SAP Basis administrator is designing a high availability solution for an SAP NetWeaver ABAP stack on AWS. The solution must automatically recover from an EC2 instance failure in the primary Availability Zone and ensure that the SAP Central Services (SCS) instance is highly available. Which combination of AWS services and configurations should be used?

Accepted Answer

Configure an overlay IP address and a cluster with Pacemaker and Corosync on two EC2 instances in different Availability Zones, using a secondary private IP address that can be moved between instances.. The recommended high availability design for SAP SCS on AWS uses a Pacemaker and Corosync cluster with an overlay IP address across two Availability Zones. This allows automatic failover of the SCS instance and its virtual IP, ensuring continuous availability. Other options either do not support stateful failover or do not provide the required automation.

Answer

Use an Auto Scaling group with a launch configuration that includes the SCS instance, and place the SCS instance behind an Application Load Balancer.

Answer

Deploy the SCS instance on a single EC2 instance with an Elastic IP address, and use Amazon Route 53 health checks to fail over to a standby instance in another Availability Zone.

Answer

Use AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery to replicate the SCS instance to another Region, and configure automatic failover with a recovery time objective (RTO) of 15 minutes.

Question 3

A company runs SAP Business Suite on AWS with an Oracle database on an Amazon EC2 instance. The database is experiencing high I/O latency during peak load. The EC2 instance is an r5.4xlarge with two 1 TB gp2 EBS volumes in a RAID 0 configuration. The company wants to improve I/O performance without changing the instance type. Which action should be taken?

Accepted Answer

Replace the gp2 volumes with io1 volumes with a high provisioned IOPS value.. Provisioned IOPS volumes (io1/io2) allow you to specify a consistent IOPS level independent of volume size, which is ideal for I/O-intensive databases like Oracle. gp2 volumes may not provide sufficient baseline IOPS for peak loads. Other options do not directly address the IOPS bottleneck.

Answer

Change the RAID configuration from RAID 0 to RAID 1.

Answer

Enable EBS optimization on the EC2 instance.

Answer

Increase the size of the gp2 volumes to 2 TB each.

Question 4

A company runs SAP NetWeaver application servers on EC2 instances in a private subnet. The SAP GUI clients connect from the corporate network over an AWS Site-to-Site VPN. The security team wants the SAP application servers to have no outbound internet access but still be able to receive operating system patches from an internal repository hosted in Amazon S3. Which configuration should the company implement?

Accepted Answer

Create an S3 gateway VPC endpoint, attach it to the route table of the private subnet, and allow the instance security group to reach the endpoint's prefix list.. An S3 gateway VPC endpoint keeps traffic to Amazon S3 on the AWS network and requires no internet gateway or NAT device. By associating the endpoint with the private subnet route table and allowing the endpoint prefix list in the security group, the SAP application servers can retrieve patches from the internal S3 repository without any outbound internet connectivity.

Answer

Attach an internet gateway to the VPC and add a route for 0.0.0.0/0, then restrict outbound traffic with a security group that only allows the patch repository.

Answer

Configure the instances with an Elastic IP address and a security group that allows only the S3 service prefix list.

Answer

Deploy a NAT gateway in the private subnet and route S3 traffic through it so the instances can download patches.

Question 5

A company is deploying SAP S/4HANA on AWS and needs to design the storage layout for the SAP HANA database. The company requires high performance and low latency for the database, and wants to ensure that the storage can be quickly restored in case of a failure. The company also wants to minimize costs. The SAP HANA database is expected to be 2 TB in size. Which storage configuration should the SAP administrator recommend?

Accepted Answer

Use multiple Provisioned IOPS SSD (io2) EBS volumes for data and log, and configure them in a RAID 0 array for the data volume and a separate io2 volume for the log volume.. SAP HANA on AWS requires storage that meets SAP's performance and certification requirements. Provisioned IOPS SSD (io2) volumes are certified and provide high IOPS and low latency. For the data volume, striping multiple io2 volumes in a RAID 0 array increases IOPS and throughput. For the log volume, a separate io2 volume ensures low latency and high IOPS for write-intensive log operations. This design provides high performance and allows for independent scaling. It also supports quick restore from snapshots. Other volume types like gp3, st1, or single io1 volumes may not meet performance or certification requirements.

Answer

Use a single 2-TB General Purpose SSD (gp3) EBS volume for the data and log volumes, and take regular EBS snapshots.

Answer

Use a single 2-TB Throughput Optimized HDD (st1) EBS volume for the data volume and a single 1-TB st1 volume for the log volume.

Answer

Use a single 2-TB io1 EBS volume for the data volume and a single 1-TB io1 volume for the log volume, with no RAID configuration.

Question 6

A company runs an SAP NetWeaver application server on AWS. The application uses a shared file system for SAP global transport directory and requires high availability across two Availability Zones. The company wants to minimize operational overhead and ensure the file system can be mounted by multiple EC2 instances simultaneously. Which AWS storage solution should be used?

Accepted Answer

Amazon EFS with a mount target in each Availability Zone, using the EFS Standard storage class.. For a shared SAP global transport directory that must be accessible across multiple Availability Zones and mounted by multiple EC2 instances, Amazon EFS is the appropriate choice. It provides a fully managed NFS file system with Multi-AZ resilience, supports concurrent mounts, and reduces operational overhead. Other options either use incompatible protocols, lack durability, or are not designed for shared POSIX file access.

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.

Answer

Amazon FSx for Lustre with a scratch file system linked to an S3 bucket.

Question 7

A company is deploying SAP HANA on AWS using a scale-up architecture. The SAP HANA database will run on an EC2 instance with multiple EBS volumes. The company wants to ensure that the storage configuration meets SAP's performance recommendations. Which TWO actions should be taken? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Provision io2 volumes with sufficient IOPS to meet SAP's performance requirements.. For SAP HANA on AWS, storage performance is critical. Separating data and log volumes prevents I/O contention and aligns with SAP's recommendations. Using io2 volumes with provisioned IOPS ensures consistent low latency and high throughput, meeting SAP's performance requirements. These two actions together provide a storage foundation that supports the demanding I/O patterns of HANA.

Answer

Enable EBS encryption on the data and log volumes.

Answer

Use a single large io2 volume for both data and log to simplify management.

Answer

Use EBS gp2 volumes for the data and log volumes to reduce cost.

Question 8

A company is running SAP Business Suite on HANA on AWS. The SAP HANA database is deployed on a single EC2 instance with EBS volumes. The company wants to ensure that the database can be recovered quickly in the event of an Availability Zone failure. The RTO is 15 minutes and the RPO is 5 minutes. Which disaster recovery strategy should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Configure SAP HANA system replication to a standby instance in a different Availability Zone, with continuous log shipping. SAP HANA system replication with continuous log shipping is the optimal disaster recovery solution for meeting a 15-minute RTO and 5-minute RPO. It maintains a standby system in a different Availability Zone that is continuously updated with redo logs, enabling fast takeover with minimal data loss. Other options like snapshots, AMIs, or S3 replication cannot achieve the required recovery times.

Answer

Create an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) of the EC2 instance daily and launch a new instance from it in another Availability Zone when needed

Answer

Use AWS Backup to take hourly snapshots of the EBS volumes and restore them in another Availability Zone during a disaster

Answer

Use Amazon S3 Cross-Region Replication to replicate HANA backups to another region and restore from there

Question 9

A company runs an SAP S/4HANA system on AWS with the database on an EC2 instance using SAP HANA. The business requires a recovery point objective of 15 minutes and a recovery time objective of 2 hours for the database. The team currently takes a daily SAP HANA full backup to Amazon S3. Which change should the company make to meet the RPO while keeping recovery within the RTO?

Accepted Answer

Enable SAP HANA automatic log backup to Amazon S3 and retain the daily full backup, then restore using the full backup plus replayed log backups.. SAP HANA automatic log backup continuously ships redo log entries to Amazon S3, enabling recovery to a point within the log backup interval and thus meeting a 15-minute RPO. Combining the daily full backup with replayed log backups restores the database to the desired point in time within the 2-hour RTO, unlike volume snapshots or infrequent full backups.

Answer

Increase the frequency of full SAP HANA backups to Amazon S3 from daily to every 15 minutes.

Answer

Configure SAP HANA system replication to a secondary EC2 instance in another Availability Zone and rely on it as the only recovery mechanism.

Answer

Create an Amazon EBS snapshot of the HANA data volume every 15 minutes and restore from the latest snapshot during a failure.

Question 10

A company is designing the network architecture for a new SAP S/4HANA deployment on AWS. The SAP application servers and HANA database will communicate over the network. The company requires that this communication is isolated from other AWS traffic and that it can span multiple Availability Zones within a single AWS Region. Which AWS networking component should be used to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

A VPC with private subnets in multiple Availability Zones, and security groups that allow only SAP-specific ports.. The correct approach is to deploy the SAP system in a VPC with private subnets across multiple Availability Zones. Security groups can then be configured to allow only the necessary SAP ports, ensuring isolation. This design provides network isolation, multi-AZ resilience, and is the foundational architecture for SAP on AWS. Other options either address different use cases or add unnecessary complexity.

Answer

AWS Transit Gateway with a dedicated route table for SAP traffic.

Answer

AWS Direct Connect with a private virtual interface for SAP communication.

Answer

VPC peering between two VPCs in different Availability Zones.

Question 11

A company is migrating an SAP Business Suite system on Oracle to AWS. The database is currently 4 TB and grows by 10% annually. The company requires a storage solution that provides consistent low-latency performance for the database, supports SAP-certified configurations, and allows for easy scaling without downtime. The SAP system is performance-sensitive and requires high IOPS. Which storage option should be used for the Oracle database?

Accepted Answer

Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes. For performance-sensitive SAP databases on AWS, Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes are the recommended storage because they provide the highest levels of IOPS, throughput, and durability, and they are SAP-certified. They also support online scaling, which meets the requirement for scaling without downtime. The other options either provide file or object storage, or are not optimized for the high-performance demands of a large Oracle database.

Answer

Amazon EBS gp3 volumes with additional IOPS provisioned

Answer

Amazon S3 with Transfer Acceleration

Answer

Amazon FSx for Windows File Server

Question 12

A company is planning to migrate its SAP Business Suite on Oracle database to AWS. The database is currently running on physical servers with direct-attached storage. The company wants to use Amazon EBS for the database volumes. Which EBS volume type should be used for the Oracle data files to achieve the best performance?

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

Accepted Answer

m5.4xlarge. The m5.4xlarge instance type offers 16 vCPUs and 64 GiB of memory, exactly matching the current physical server specifications. It is a general-purpose instance that provides a good balance of resources and is more cost-effective than memory-optimized or compute-optimized instances for SAP NetWeaver application servers. This ensures sufficient performance while minimizing costs.

Answer

r5.4xlarge

Answer

x1e.4xlarge

Answer

c5.4xlarge

Question 13

A company is designing the network layout for a new SAP S/4HANA system on AWS. The SAP application servers and the HANA database will run in separate subnets within the same VPC. The security team requires that all traffic between the application servers and the database be restricted to the SAP ports only, and that no traffic traverse the public internet. The company also wants to minimize operational overhead for the network ACLs. Which combination of design choices should the solutions architect recommend?

Accepted Answer

Place the application and database subnets in the same VPC, attach a security group to the HANA instance that allows only the SAP ports from the application server security group, and use the default network ACL.. The cleanest design for east-west SAP traffic within a single VPC is to use security groups with security group referencing. A security group attached to the HANA instance can allow inbound traffic on the SAP ports only from the application server security group, which automatically follows instances as they scale. Because security groups are stateful, return traffic is allowed without extra rules. Keeping both tiers in the same VPC means traffic never leaves the AWS private network, and the default network ACL avoids the operational burden of maintaining stateless custom ACLs.

Answer

Place the application and database subnets in the same VPC and use AWS PrivateLink to expose the HANA database to the application servers.

Answer

Place the application and database subnets in separate VPCs, peer the VPCs, and create custom network ACLs on both sides that allow only the SAP ports.

Answer

Place the application and database subnets in the same VPC and configure a NAT gateway so that the database traffic is translated before reaching the HANA instance.

Question 14

A company is deploying a new SAP NetWeaver application server on AWS. The company wants to ensure that the application server can automatically recover from an underlying hardware failure with minimal downtime. The application server is stateless and does not store any data locally. Which AWS feature should be used to meet this requirement?

Accepted Answer

An Auto Scaling group with a launch template and a minimum and desired capacity of 1, spanning multiple Availability Zones.. For a stateless SAP application server, an Auto Scaling group spanning multiple Availability Zones provides automatic recovery by replacing unhealthy instances and ensuring capacity across AZs. This minimizes downtime and requires no manual intervention. Other options either do not provide automatic replacement, are limited to a single AZ, or are designed for disaster recovery of stateful systems.

Answer

EC2 Auto Recovery for the instance.

Answer

AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (DRS) for the EC2 instance.

Answer

A placement group with a spread placement strategy across multiple Availability Zones.

Question 15

A company is deploying a new SAP S/4HANA system on AWS. The SAP HANA database will run on an EC2 instance with multiple EBS volumes. The company wants to ensure that the storage configuration provides the required IOPS and throughput for the HANA database, and that it follows SAP and AWS best practices. Which EBS volume type should be used for the HANA data and log volumes?

Accepted Answer

Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes. For SAP HANA on AWS, the storage must deliver high IOPS and low latency. Amazon EBS io2 Block Express volumes are specifically designed for such demanding workloads and are SAP-certified. They provide the necessary performance and durability, making them the correct choice for HANA data and log volumes. The other volume types are either general-purpose or HDD-based and cannot meet the performance requirements.

Answer

Amazon EBS st1 volumes

Answer

Amazon EBS sc1 volumes

Answer

Amazon EBS gp2 volumes