PAS-C01 Technology Practice Question
A company is designing a disaster recovery (DR) strategy for its SAP environment on AWS. The primary region is us-east-1 and the DR region is us-west-2. The SAP application and database must be recoverable within 4 hours (RTO) and with a maximum data loss of 15 minutes (RPO). The database is SAP HANA. Which combination of services meets these requirements?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Configure HANA System Replication (HSR) between the primary and DR regions, with a standby EC2 instance in us-west-2.
HANA System Replication (HSR) with log shipping provides near real-time data replication to the DR region, achieving an RPO of 15 minutes or less. The standby EC2 instance in us-west-2 can be promoted to primary within 4 hours (RTO) by performing a takeover. Option A is incorrect because EBS snapshots are typically taken every few hours and cross-region copy time adds latency, making it difficult to meet a 15-minute RPO. Option B is incorrect because Amazon S3 cross-region replication for HANA backups is asynchronous and may not ensure consistent log backups every 15 minutes, also requiring manual restore steps that exceed the RTO. Option D is incorrect because AWS DMS does not support SAP HANA as a target for ongoing replication; RDS for SAP HANA is not a supported service, and DMS is designed for homogeneous database migrations, not SAP HANA replication.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use Amazon EBS snapshots replicated across regions, restoring in the DR region with a CloudFormation template.
Why it's wrong here
EBS snapshots are periodic and cannot guarantee 15-minute RPO; also, restoring large volumes takes time.
- ✗
Back up the HANA database to Amazon S3 and copy the backup to the DR region using cross-region replication.
Why it's wrong here
Backup and restore typically have higher RPO and RTO than replication.
- ✓
Configure HANA System Replication (HSR) between the primary and DR regions, with a standby EC2 instance in us-west-2.
Why this is correct
HSR provides near-synchronous replication with RPO as low as seconds, meeting the 15-minute requirement.
- ✗
Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication to an RDS for SAP HANA instance in the DR region.
Why it's wrong here
DMS is not designed for real-time replication of SAP HANA; HSR is the native solution.
Visual reference
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This PAS-C01 question is part of Courseiva's 1,616-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PAS-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PAS-C01 exam.