PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Question
This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of operations and maintenance. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 running on an EC2 instance with a single 500 GB gp2 volume. The database is experiencing I/O bottlenecks. The operations team wants to increase IOPS without changing the volume size. Which action should they take?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Modify the volume to increase its size to 1,000 GB.
Option A is correct because gp2 IOPS scale linearly with size; increasing volume size increases baseline IOPS. Option B is wrong because changing to st1 is not suitable for database workloads. Option C is wrong because enabling EBS optimization on the instance does not increase volume IOPS. Option D is wrong because attaching additional volumes requires RAID configuration and may not be straightforward.
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.
✗
Enable EBS optimization on the EC2 instance.
Why it's wrong here
EBS optimization improves network throughput to EBS but does not increase volume IOPS.
✗
Change the volume type to st1 (throughput optimized).
Why it's wrong here
st1 is designed for big data, not transactional database workloads.
✓
Modify the volume to increase its size to 1,000 GB.
Why this is correct
gp2 IOPS increase with volume size at a rate of 3 IOPS per GB.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Attach an additional gp2 volume and use it for temporary data.
Why it's wrong here
This may not solve the IOPS issue on the main volume and adds complexity.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→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 PAS-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Operations and Maintenance — This question tests Operations and Maintenance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Modify the volume to increase its size to 1,000 GB. — Option A is correct because gp2 IOPS scale linearly with size; increasing volume size increases baseline IOPS. Option B is wrong because changing to st1 is not suitable for database workloads. Option C is wrong because enabling EBS optimization on the instance does not increase volume IOPS. Option D is wrong because attaching additional volumes requires RAID configuration and may not be straightforward.
What should I do if I get this PAS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which PAS-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
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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