PAS-C01 Technology Practice Question
A company runs a critical SAP HANA database on an m5.24xlarge EC2 instance. The database has high transaction volume and requires low latency storage. The current setup uses EBS gp2 volumes with 10,000 IOPS. During peak hours, the database performance degrades due to IOPS burst balance depletion. Which storage solution should the company use to maintain consistent performance?
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
✓
Provision EBS io2 Block Express volumes with 10,000 provisioned IOPS.
EBS io2 Block Express volumes provide consistent, low-latency performance with provisioned IOPS, making them the recommended choice for SAP HANA workloads. Option A is wrong because although gp3 volumes can provision 10,000 IOPS and would eliminate burst balance depletion, io2 Block Express is specifically designed for high-performance databases like SAP HANA, offering higher durability and consistent low-latency performance. Option B is wrong because Instance Store is ephemeral and data is lost if the instance stops. Option D is wrong because EFS is a file system, not suitable for block-level database storage.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Migrate to EBS gp3 volumes with provisioned IOPS of 10,000.
Why it's wrong here
gp3 has a baseline of 3000 IOPS; additional IOPS can be provisioned but cost may be higher than io2.
- ✗
Use EC2 Instance Store (NVMe SSD) for the database data and logs.
Why it's wrong here
Instance Store is ephemeral and not suitable for persistent data.
- ✓
Provision EBS io2 Block Express volumes with 10,000 provisioned IOPS.
Why this is correct
io2 Block Express provides consistent IOPS and is designed for high-performance workloads.
- ✗
Move the database to Amazon EFS with provisioned throughput.
Why it's wrong here
EFS is a file system and not optimized for database block storage.
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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.