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 SAP on AWS and uses AWS Backup to back up the SAP HANA database. The backup job fails with an error indicating insufficient IAM permissions. What is the most likely missing permission?
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.
ec2:DescribeInstances
Why wrong: This is needed for discovery but not likely the cause of failure.
kms:Decrypt
If the backup is encrypted, AWS Backup requires kms:Decrypt to access the key.
rds:CreateDBSnapshot
Why wrong: This is for RDS databases, not HANA on EC2.
s3:PutObject
Why wrong: While needed for backup storage, the error is about insufficient permissions, likely KMS-related.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
kms:Decrypt
AWS Backup requires permissions to decrypt the KMS key used to encrypt the SAP HANA database or its backup target. If the IAM role assigned to AWS Backup lacks the `kms:Decrypt` action for the specific KMS key, the backup job fails with an insufficient IAM permissions error. This is because AWS Backup must read the encrypted data before transferring it to the backup vault.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
ec2:DescribeInstances
Why it's wrong here
This is needed for discovery but not likely the cause of failure.
kms:Decrypt
Why this is correct
If the backup is encrypted, AWS Backup requires kms:Decrypt to access the key.
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.
rds:CreateDBSnapshot
Why it's wrong here
This is for RDS databases, not HANA on EC2.
s3:PutObject
Why it's wrong here
While needed for backup storage, the error is about insufficient permissions, likely KMS-related.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often assume the missing permission is `s3:PutObject` because backups are stored in S3, but the error occurs before the data is written, during the decryption step when the source is encrypted with a KMS key.
Detailed technical explanation
AWS Backup integrates with AWS KMS for encryption at rest. When backing up an encrypted SAP HANA database, the backup service must call `kms:Decrypt` on the KMS key to access the data, and then `kms:GenerateDataKey` to re-encrypt the backup under the backup vault's key. If the IAM role lacks `kms:Decrypt`, the backup fails even if all other permissions (like `s3:PutObject`) are present. This is a common pitfall when using customer-managed KMS keys with cross-account or service-role policies.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Operations and Maintenance — This question tests Operations and Maintenance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: kms:Decrypt — AWS Backup requires permissions to decrypt the KMS key used to encrypt the SAP HANA database or its backup target. If the IAM role assigned to AWS Backup lacks the `kms:Decrypt` action for the specific KMS key, the backup job fails with an insufficient IAM permissions error. This is because AWS Backup must read the encrypted data before transferring it to the backup vault.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "most likely". Probability qualifier — the question wants the most probable cause or outcome, not a guaranteed one. Eliminate low-probability options.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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.
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