PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
A company is planning to migrate SAP S/4HANA to AWS. The system has a high transaction rate and requires low network latency between SAP application servers and the database. Which AWS infrastructure design minimizes network latency between the SAP application tier and the database tier?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse high availability with performance, assuming that spreading resources across AZs improves both, but for SAP S/4HANA with high transaction rates, the primary design goal for latency is co-location in a single AZ, not fault tolerance.
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
✓
Place all SAP application servers and the database server in the same Availability Zone.
Placing all SAP application servers and the database server in the same Availability Zone (AZ) minimizes network latency by keeping traffic within a single, high-bandwidth, low-latency AWS data center. SAP S/4HANA with a high transaction rate is sensitive to inter-AZ latency (typically 1-2 ms), which can degrade performance for synchronous database calls. Co-locating all tiers in one AZ ensures the lowest possible round-trip time for SAP's dialog work processes and database commits.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Place the database server in one Availability Zone and application servers in another to improve fault tolerance.
Why it's wrong here
Cross-AZ placement adds latency due to network distance.
- ✗
Use a cluster placement group for the application servers and a separate placement group for the database.
Why it's wrong here
Placement groups reduce latency but cross-group communication still incurs latency.
- ✗
Use a mix of instance types optimized for compute and memory across different Availability Zones.
Why it's wrong here
Instance type selection does not directly affect network latency.
- ✓
Place all SAP application servers and the database server in the same Availability Zone.
Why this is correct
Same AZ ensures minimal network hops and lowest latency.
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