PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Question
A company is running an SAP S/4HANA system on AWS. During a planned maintenance window, the operations team needs to apply an SAP kernel patch that requires stopping all SAP instances. Which AWS service can be used to orchestrate the stop/start sequence of multiple EC2 instances and ensure proper dependencies are maintained?
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
✓
AWS Systems Manager Automation
(AWS Systems Manager Automation) is correct because it provides runbooks that can orchestrate the stop/start sequence of multiple EC2 instances with dependency management and error handling, ideal for SAP maintenance. Option B (AWS Step Functions) is less suitable because it requires custom Lambda functions to manage EC2 states, adding complexity. Option C (AWS CloudFormation) is for provisioning infrastructure, not ad-hoc operational tasks. Option D (Amazon EC2 Run Command) is for running individual commands on instances, not for orchestrating multi-step sequences with dependencies.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
AWS Systems Manager Automation
Why this is correct
Systems Manager Automation can orchestrate stop/start with dependencies and error handling.
- ✗
AWS Step Functions
Why it's wrong here
Step Functions can orchestrate but requires custom integrations; Systems Manager is more direct.
- ✗
AWS CloudFormation
Why it's wrong here
CloudFormation is for provisioning, not operational orchestration.
- ✗
Amazon EC2 Run Command
Why it's wrong here
RunCommand runs commands on instances, but doesn't orchestrate sequences.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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