PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of design of sap workloads on aws. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company has an SAP HANA database on an r5.8xlarge EC2 instance. The database is experiencing high CPU utilization during peak hours. The company wants to improve performance without changing the instance family. Which action should be taken?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Scale up to a larger instance size within the r5 family, such as r5.12xlarge.
The r5.8xlarge instance is experiencing high CPU utilization, and the requirement is to improve performance without changing the instance family. Scaling up to a larger instance size within the same r5 family, such as r5.12xlarge, provides more vCPUs and memory while maintaining compatibility with the existing SAP HANA workload and AWS architecture. This approach avoids the complexity of migrating to a different instance family and ensures that the SAP HANA database can leverage additional compute resources directly.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Change the instance type to x1e.32xlarge for more CPU.
Why it's wrong here
Changing to x1e changes the instance family.
✓
Scale up to a larger instance size within the r5 family, such as r5.12xlarge.
Why this is correct
Increasing instance size provides more vCPUs and memory, staying in the same family.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use a burstable performance instance like t3.2xlarge.
Why it's wrong here
Burstable instances are not suitable for SAP HANA production workloads.
✗
Enable CPU hyper-threading on the instance.
Why it's wrong here
Hyper-threading is typically already enabled on Nitro-based instances.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may assume any larger instance type will work, but the question explicitly restricts staying within the same instance family, making Option A a distractor that offers more CPU but violates the constraint.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The r5 family uses Intel Xeon Platinum 8000 series processors with hyper-threading enabled by default, so each vCPU corresponds to a single hardware thread. Scaling within the r5 family (e.g., from r5.8xlarge with 32 vCPUs to r5.12xlarge with 48 vCPUs) increases both vCPU count and memory proportionally, which is critical for SAP HANA as it relies on large memory allocations and parallel query processing. In real-world scenarios, SAP HANA workloads often hit CPU bottlenecks during data loading or complex analytical queries, and vertical scaling within the same family avoids the need to revalidate SAP certification or adjust HANA parameters tied to instance type.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Design of SAP Workloads on AWS — This question tests Design of SAP Workloads on AWS — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Scale up to a larger instance size within the r5 family, such as r5.12xlarge. — The r5.8xlarge instance is experiencing high CPU utilization, and the requirement is to improve performance without changing the instance family. Scaling up to a larger instance size within the same r5 family, such as r5.12xlarge, provides more vCPUs and memory while maintaining compatibility with the existing SAP HANA workload and AWS architecture. This approach avoids the complexity of migrating to a different instance family and ensures that the SAP HANA database can leverage additional compute resources directly.
What should I do if I get this PAS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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