Which Disaster Recovery Approaches are Valid for SAP HANA on AWS?
A company is designing a disaster recovery (DR) strategy for SAP HANA on AWS. Which TWO of the following are valid DR approaches? (Choose two.)
Quick Answer
This question wants you to recognize that SAP HANA disaster recovery on AWS can be built from two very different layers of the stack, and both are legitimate depending on the recovery objectives involved. Cross-Region EBS snapshot copy works at the infrastructure and storage layer: it periodically copies point-in-time snapshots of the underlying EBS volumes to another Region, giving you a way to rebuild the HANA environment there if the primary Region becomes unavailable, though recovery involves restoring from those snapshots rather than instant failover. SAP HANA System Replication (HSR), by contrast, works at the database layer - it asynchronously replicates the in-memory database itself to a secondary HANA instance in another Region, which enables a much faster, more current failover with minimal data loss compared to snapshot-based recovery. Both approaches count as valid DR strategies because a DR approach doesn't mean one single correct mechanism; it means any method that gets you a usable, current-enough copy of the system in another Region when the primary fails, and organizations often choose based on their specific RPO and RTO needs and operational complexity tolerance. The pattern worth remembering is that HANA-specific replication features and general AWS infrastructure features like cross-region snapshot copy are not mutually exclusive options - a well-designed DR strategy question may present both as correct because they solve the same underlying problem through different means.
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse backup replication (S3 CRR, AWS Backup) with live database replication (HSR), assuming any cross-Region copy mechanism qualifies as DR for HANA, when only HSR provides the required near-real-time data consistency and failover capability.
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 to a secondary Region.
HANA System Replication (HSR) is a native SAP feature that asynchronously replicates the in-memory database to a secondary Region, enabling a full DR failover with minimal data loss. This approach is fully supported on AWS by deploying HANA instances in different Availability Zones or Regions, and it meets the RPO/RTO requirements for enterprise SAP HANA workloads.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Configure HANA System Replication to a secondary Region.
Why this is correct
HANA System Replication provides near real-time replication.
- ✗
Use S3 cross-Region replication (CRR) to copy HANA backups.
Why it's wrong here
S3 CRR is for S3 objects, not for HANA database replication.
- ✓
Copy EBS snapshots to another Region using cross-Region snapshot copy.
Why this is correct
Cross-Region EBS snapshot copies can be used for DR.
- ✗
Use AWS Backup with cross-Region copy.
Why it's wrong here
This is a backup method, not a DR approach by itself.
- ✗
Use Amazon RDS cross-Region read replicas for HANA.
Why it's wrong here
Amazon RDS does not support SAP HANA.
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Variation 1. A company is running SAP on AWS and needs to design a disaster recovery (DR) solution with a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 15 minutes and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 4 hours. The primary region is us-east-1 and the DR region is us-west-2. The SAP application uses an SAP HANA database with a size of 2 TB. Which combination of AWS services should be used to meet the DR requirements most cost-effectively?
medium- A.Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with continuous replication from the primary HANA database to a target in us-west-2.
- B.Use AWS Backup with continuous backups and cross-region copy to achieve RPO of 15 minutes.
- C.Use AWS Backup to take hourly backups of the HANA database and restore in us-west-2 during a disaster.
- ✓ D.Configure HANA System Replication (HSR) across regions and use a standby HANA instance in us-west-2 with a smaller instance size.
Why D: HANA System Replication (HSR) is the native SAP HANA replication technology that can achieve an RPO of 15 minutes or less by asynchronously replicating data across regions. By using a smaller standby instance in us-west-2, the solution meets the RTO of 4 hours (since the standby can be scaled up or promoted quickly) while minimizing ongoing DR costs. This approach is purpose-built for SAP HANA and avoids the overhead of third-party tools or backup-based restores.
Variation 2. A company is designing a disaster recovery (DR) strategy for its SAP environment on AWS. The primary site is in us-east-1, and the DR site must be in us-west-2. The Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is 15 minutes, and the Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is 4 hours. Which TWO AWS services should be used to meet these objectives?
medium- A.Amazon Route 53 health checks to fail over DNS to the DR site.
- B.Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling groups to launch instances in us-west-2 on failover.
- ✓ C.SAP HANA System Replication configured with asynchronous replication to a HANA instance in us-west-2.
- ✓ D.AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (AWS DRS) to continuously replicate SAP servers to us-west-2.
- E.AWS Backup to copy EBS snapshots to us-west-2 every 15 minutes.
Why C: SAP HANA System Replication with asynchronous mode can achieve an RPO of 15 minutes or less by continuously replicating log buffers from the primary HANA database in us-east-1 to a secondary HANA instance in us-west-2. This is the native SAP replication mechanism and directly meets the database-level RPO requirement. AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery (AWS DRS) continuously replicates entire SAP servers (including OS, applications, and data) to us-west-2, enabling full server failover within the RTO. Together, HANA replication handles database consistency while DRS covers the application and infrastructure layer, meeting both the RPO and RTO objectives.
Variation 3. A company is designing a disaster recovery (DR) strategy for its SAP environment on AWS. The primary site is in us-east-1 and the DR site in us-west-2. The SAP HANA database is 3 TB and uses HANA System Replication (HSR) in async mode. The RPO requirement is 15 minutes. What is the most cost-effective way to meet the RPO?
easy- A.Take full database backups to Amazon S3 every 15 minutes.
- B.Use EBS snapshots every 5 minutes to replicate data to DR region.
- C.Use HANA System Replication in synchronous mode to ensure zero data loss.
- ✓ D.Configure HANA System Replication in asynchronous mode over AWS Direct Connect.
Why D: HANA System Replication (HSR) in asynchronous mode over AWS Direct Connect provides a low-latency, reliable network path that can achieve an RPO of 15 minutes without the performance penalty of synchronous replication. Asynchronous replication sends committed transactions to the DR site without waiting for acknowledgment, which is suitable for the 3 TB HANA database and meets the RPO requirement cost-effectively by avoiding the need for expensive, high-bandwidth dedicated connections or frequent full backups.
Variation 4. A company is designing a disaster recovery solution for SAP HANA on AWS using HANA System Replication. The primary site is in us-east-1 and the DR site is in us-west-2. Which component is required to enable replication across Regions?
hard- ✓ A.AWS Site-to-Site VPN or AWS Direct Connect between the two Regions
- B.VPC peering between the two VPCs
- C.Automated EBS snapshots of /hana/data and /hana/log volumes in us-east-1, copied to us-west-2
- D.AWS Global Accelerator
- E.Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration
Why A: To enable HANA System Replication (HSR) across AWS Regions, a reliable, low-latency network connection is required. AWS Site-to-Site VPN or AWS Direct Connect provides a dedicated, secure network path that meets SAP's latency and stability requirements. The other options (VPC peering, automated EBS snapshots, Global Accelerator, S3 Transfer Acceleration) are not required for HSR; HSR performs its own initial data synchronization, and VPC peering does not guarantee the required performance for HANA replication.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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