PAS-C01 Technology Practice Question
A company is designing a disaster recovery solution for a critical SAP HANA database running on AWS. The primary site is in us-east-1 and the recovery site must be in us-west-2. The database must have a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of less than 15 minutes and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of less than 2 hours. Which approach meets these requirements with the least operational overhead?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates assume AWS-managed services like AWS Backup or DMS are always simpler, but for SAP HANA, the native HSR replication is actually the lowest-overhead option because it avoids the complexity of external tools and leverages HANA's own log shipping and takeover mechanisms.
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 SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) in active/standby mode between the primary and secondary regions.
SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) in active/standby mode is the native, AWS-recommended disaster recovery solution for SAP HANA databases. It provides synchronous or asynchronous replication of the entire in-memory database to a standby instance in us-west-2, enabling an RPO of less than 15 minutes (asynchronous mode) and an RTO of under 2 hours through a controlled takeover. This approach minimizes operational overhead because it is built into SAP HANA, requires no external services, and automates log shipping and data synchronization.
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 AWS Backup to take snapshots of the HANA data volume every 5 minutes and copy them to us-west-2.
Why it's wrong here
Snapshot frequency is limited and cross-region copy takes time, exceeding 15 min RPO.
- ✗
Use Amazon S3 Cross-Region Replication to copy HANA data files to us-west-2.
Why it's wrong here
S3 is not a database replication solution; it lacks transactional consistency.
- ✗
Set up AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) with ongoing replication from the primary to a secondary HANA database.
Why it's wrong here
DMS is not optimized for HANA replication and may introduce latency.
- ✓
Configure SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) in active/standby mode between the primary and secondary regions.
Why this is correct
HSR provides synchronous or near-synchronous replication with low RPO and fast failover, meeting requirements.
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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.