PAS-C01 AWS DMS Practice Question
A company is migrating a large SAP HANA database (5 TB) from on-premises to AWS. The migration must have minimal downtime and use AWS DMS for ongoing replication. Which TWO actions should be taken to ensure the migration completes successfully? (Choose 2.)
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
✓
Use Amazon S3 as an intermediate target for initial load
Options B and C are correct. Option B: Using Amazon S3 as an intermediate target for the initial full load helps reduce the load on the source and accelerates the initial data transfer, which is critical for a 5 TB database. Option C: Provisioning a large EC2 instance for the DMS replication instance (e.g., x1e.32xlarge) provides the necessary memory and compute to handle large data volumes and ongoing replication with minimal downtime. Option D is incorrect because Amazon RDS does not support SAP HANA as a database engine; SAP HANA must be deployed on Amazon EC2, so Multi-AZ on RDS is not applicable. Option A is incorrect because a t2.large instance lacks sufficient resources for a 5 TB migration. Option E is incorrect because disabling backup retention is not a best practice during migration and could lead to data loss.
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 a t2.large instance for the DMS replication instance to reduce cost
Why it's wrong here
A t2.large instance lacks the network throughput and memory needed for large-scale DMS tasks with a 5 TB database.
- ✓
Use Amazon S3 as an intermediate target for initial load
Why this is correct
Using Amazon S3 as an intermediate target for the initial full load is a best practice for large databases, as it reduces load on the source and accelerates the initial transfer.
- ✓
Provision a large EC2 instance for the DMS replication instance (e.g., x1e.32xlarge)
Why this is correct
A large EC2 instance like x1e.32xlarge provides sufficient memory and compute for the DMS replication instance to handle the 5 TB database and ongoing replication with minimal downtime.
- ✗
Enable Multi-AZ on the target RDS instance
Why it's wrong here
Amazon RDS does not support SAP HANA as a database engine; SAP HANA must be deployed on Amazon EC2, so enabling Multi-AZ on RDS is not applicable.
- ✗
Disable automatic backup retention on the target database
Why it's wrong here
Disabling automatic backup retention on the target database is not recommended during migration as it risks data loss and is not a best practice.
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
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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.