PAS-C01 Operations and Maintenance Practice Question
A company runs SAP on AWS and wants to reduce costs for non-production environments that are used only during business hours (8 AM to 6 PM). Which action should the administrator take to minimize costs without losing data?
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
✓
Stop the instances during non-business hours and use Amazon EBS snapshots for backup
Stopping instances when not in use eliminates compute costs while preserving data via Amazon EBS snapshots. Option A (Reserved Instances) is wrong because Reserved Instances are intended for steady-state usage and do not provide savings for intermittent usage; the idea of reducing instance size is not relevant to this option. Option B (Terminate) would lose data unless snapshots are taken, and the question specifies 'without losing data.' Option C (Downsize) could reduce costs but still incurs compute charges 24/7, whereas stopping completely eliminates compute costs during non-business hours.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Convert the instances to Reserved Instances
Why it's wrong here
Reserved Instances are cost-effective for steady-state usage, not for intermittent hours. They require a 1- or 3-year commitment and do not align with the non-production schedule of 8 AM to 6 PM.
- ✗
Terminate the instances after business hours
Why it's wrong here
Terminating instances would delete the EC2 instances and their associated data unless a backup (e.g., AMI or EBS snapshot) is taken. The requirement is to minimize costs without losing data, so termination without backup is risky.
- ✗
Downsize the instance types to the smallest available
Why it's wrong here
Downsizing instance types reduces compute capacity but still incurs charges for running instances 24/7. Stopping instances completely eliminates compute costs during non-business hours.
- ✓
Stop the instances during non-business hours and use Amazon EBS snapshots for backup
Why this is correct
Stopping instances preserves data on EBS volumes and eliminates compute charges while stopped. Using EBS snapshots provides additional backup and data protection.
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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.