PAS-C01 Network Load Balancer (NLB) Practice Question
A company is migrating its SAP ERP system to AWS. The system requires high availability across two Availability Zones. Which AWS service should be used to manage the virtual IP address for the SAP Central Services (ASCS/ERS) cluster?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is that candidates may think Route 53 can manage the virtual IP directly, but Route 53 only provides DNS resolution and failover. AWS does not support floating IPs across AZs, so the standard solution is an NLB that provides a static endpoint (IP or DNS name) for the SAP cluster, with health checks to direct traffic to the active node.
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
✓
Network Load Balancer
The correct approach for managing the virtual IP address for SAP Central Services (ASCS/ERS) across two Availability Zones is to use a Network Load Balancer (NLB). AWS does not support floating IPs across AZs, so an NLB is used to front the ASCS/ERS endpoints. The NLB uses health checks to route traffic to the active node, providing a single virtual IP (the NLB's DNS name or static IP) that clients can use. This is the recommended AWS pattern for SAP high availability. Route 53 is used for DNS failover but does not serve as a virtual IP itself; it can complement the NLB by pointing a hostname to the NLB's DNS name, but the virtual IP is managed by the NLB.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Elastic IP address
Why it's wrong here
Elastic IP addresses are static public IPs but cannot be moved across Availability Zones for SAP clustering; they are not suitable for managing a virtual IP for ASCS/ERS across AZs.
- ✓
Network Load Balancer
Why this is correct
Correct. A Network Load Balancer provides a virtual IP (its DNS name or static IP) and can route traffic to the active ASCS/ERS node in a multi-AZ cluster based on health checks.
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AWS Global Accelerator
Why it's wrong here
AWS Global Accelerator improves performance by routing traffic to the optimal endpoint, but it is not used to manage a virtual IP for SAP ASCS/ERS clustering; it is more for global traffic optimization.
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Amazon Route 53
Why it's wrong here
Amazon Route 53 is a DNS service; while it can perform DNS-based failover, it does not provide a virtual IP address. The virtual IP for the SAP cluster must be a static IP or DNS name that can be quickly redirected, which is achieved with an NLB.
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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.