PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
A company runs SAP HANA on AWS using an m5.24xlarge instance. The storage is configured with multiple EBS io1 volumes striped with LVM. Recently, the database performance has degraded. CloudWatch shows that the EBS write latency averages 5 ms, and the queue depth is consistently below 1. What is the most likely cause of the performance degradation?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently assume high latency or low queue depth automatically points to an instance or volume type issue, rather than considering LVM striping misconfiguration as the root cause of uneven I/O distribution.
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
✓
The LVM stripe width is misconfigured causing uneven I/O distribution
With EBS write latency averaging 5 ms and queue depth consistently below 1, the storage subsystem is not saturated; the bottleneck is likely an uneven distribution of I/O across the LVM striped volumes. A misconfigured stripe width (e.g., too small or not aligned with the SAP HANA page size of 16 KB) can cause certain volumes to handle disproportionate write traffic, leading to localized latency spikes and overall performance degradation even when aggregate metrics appear acceptable.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The LVM stripe width is misconfigured causing uneven I/O distribution
Why this is correct
Improper stripe width can lead to hot spots.
- ✗
The EBS-optimized instance feature is not enabled
Why it's wrong here
m5.24xlarge is EBS-optimized by default.
- ✗
The EBS volume type should be changed to gp3
Why it's wrong here
gp3 may not provide consistent IOPS needed for HANA.
- ✗
The EBS write latency is too high and requires a larger instance
Why it's wrong here
5 ms is within acceptable range for HANA.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
Go deeper
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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