PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Question
A company is running SAP HANA on AWS and needs to perform an in-place upgrade from HANA 1.0 to 2.0. The database size is 2 TB and the team wants to minimize downtime. Which approach is most appropriate?
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
✓
Set up HANA System Replication from the current HANA 1.0 instance to a new EC2 instance running HANA 2.0, then perform a takeover.
The most appropriate approach to minimize downtime for an in-place upgrade from HANA 1.0 to 2.0 is to use HANA System Replication (HSR). HSR allows you to replicate data from the current HANA 1.0 instance to a new EC2 instance running HANA 2.0. Once replication is complete and consistent, a takeover is performed, switching the workload to the HANA 2.0 instance with minimal downtime. Option A (stop, backup, restore) results in longer downtime because the database must be offline for the entire backup and restore process. Option C (AWS DMS) is not designed for HANA version upgrades and does not support the necessary system replication mechanisms. Option D (EBS snapshot) is a backup method that also incurs significant downtime and does not perform the upgrade; you would still need to upgrade the database on the new instance.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Stop the HANA database, take a full backup, launch a new EC2 instance with HANA 2.0, and restore the backup.
Why it's wrong here
This approach results in significant downtime during backup and restore.
- ✓
Set up HANA System Replication from the current HANA 1.0 instance to a new EC2 instance running HANA 2.0, then perform a takeover.
Why this is correct
This minimizes downtime as the target is pre-built and the takeover is fast.
- ✗
Use AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) to continuously replicate data to a new HANA 2.0 instance.
Why it's wrong here
DMS is not intended for HANA version upgrades and may not support all HANA features.
- ✗
Create an EBS snapshot of the HANA data volume and attach it to a new EC2 instance with HANA 2.0.
Why it's wrong here
Snapshot does not handle the upgrade process; HANA 2.0 would need to upgrade the data.
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