PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Question
This PAS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of operations and maintenance. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company runs its SAP ERP system on AWS using a multi-tier architecture. The SAP application servers are in an Auto Scaling group across two Availability Zones, and the SAP HANA database runs on a single large EC2 instance (r5.24xlarge) with 768 GB of memory and EBS Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1) volumes. The operations team recently noticed that the database performance degrades intermittently during peak business hours. CloudWatch metrics show that the database instance's CPU utilization remains below 40%, but the ReadLatency and WriteLatency for the EBS volumes spike above 10 ms during these periods, and the VolumeQueueLength metric increases significantly. The database instance uses a single EBS volume for /hana/data and another for /hana/log. The team has already verified that there are no network bottlenecks and that the SAP application servers are not overwhelming the database with queries. What is the MOST likely cause of the latency spikes, and what action should be taken?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "most likely"
Why it matters: Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Upgrade the EC2 instance to a Nitro-based instance type like r5b.24xlarge, which provides higher EBS bandwidth and lower latency.
Option B is correct because the symptoms suggest that the EBS volumes are not meeting the required IOPS, causing queueing and latency. Switching to Nitro instances that support EBS optimization at higher bandwidth can improve performance. Option A is wrong because adding more application servers would increase load, not reduce latency. Option C is wrong because enabling encryption does not improve IOPS. Option D is wrong because changing volume type to st1 (throughput optimized) is not suitable for low-latency database workloads.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Change the EBS volume type from io1 to st1 for higher throughput.
Why it's wrong here
st1 is not suitable for low-latency database workloads.
✗
Add more SAP application servers to distribute the load and reduce database contention.
Why it's wrong here
Adding more servers would increase load on the database.
✗
Enable EBS encryption on the volumes to improve I/O performance.
Why it's wrong here
Encryption does not improve performance.
✓
Upgrade the EC2 instance to a Nitro-based instance type like r5b.24xlarge, which provides higher EBS bandwidth and lower latency.
Why this is correct
Nitro instances offer better EBS performance.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "most likely" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which PAS-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Operations and Maintenance — This question tests Operations and Maintenance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Upgrade the EC2 instance to a Nitro-based instance type like r5b.24xlarge, which provides higher EBS bandwidth and lower latency. — Option B is correct because the symptoms suggest that the EBS volumes are not meeting the required IOPS, causing queueing and latency. Switching to Nitro instances that support EBS optimization at higher bandwidth can improve performance. Option A is wrong because adding more application servers would increase load, not reduce latency. Option C is wrong because enabling encryption does not improve IOPS. Option D is wrong because changing volume type to st1 (throughput optimized) is not suitable for low-latency database workloads.
What should I do if I get this PAS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which PAS-C01 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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