PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
A company running SAP on AWS wants to automate the start and stop of non-production instances to save costs. Which AWS service is best suited for scheduling instance state changes?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to choose AWS Lambda with custom code (Option D) because they think it gives more control, but the exam expects the purpose-built AWS Instance Scheduler as the best practice for scheduling instance state changes, as it is a managed solution that requires no custom development.
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 Instance Scheduler
AWS Instance Scheduler is a purpose-built solution that uses AWS CloudFormation to deploy a scheduler that automatically starts and stops EC2 instances based on defined schedules. It is the recommended approach for SAP non-production instances because it natively supports tagging, time zones, and periodic schedules without requiring custom code, making it the most cost-effective and maintainable option for this use case.
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 Instance Scheduler
Why this is correct
Specifically designed for scheduling EC2 start/stop.
- ✗
Amazon CloudWatch Events (EventBridge)
Why it's wrong here
Can trigger Lambda but not a scheduler solution.
- ✗
AWS Auto Scaling
Why it's wrong here
Auto Scaling manages fleet size, not scheduling.
- ✗
AWS Lambda with custom code
Why it's wrong here
While AWS Lambda can execute custom code to stop and start instances, it lacks a native scheduling trigger; you would need to integrate it with Amazon EventBridge or a separate cron service to define the start/stop times, adding unnecessary complexity compared to AWS Instance Scheduler, which provides built-in scheduling logic. This option is tempting because Lambda is a versatile compute service for running arbitrary automation scripts, and in scenarios requiring complex pre- or post-stop actions—such as database quiescing or custom notifications—Lambda would be the correct choice.
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