PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
A company runs SAP S/4HANA on AWS in a single region with a multi-AZ setup. The SAP HANA database uses HANA System Replication (HSR) for high availability. The primary HANA instance is in us-east-1a and the secondary is in us-east-1b. The application servers are split across both AZs. Recently, during a maintenance window, the primary HANA instance failed unexpectedly. The secondary automatically took over. However, after the failover, the application servers in us-east-1a are experiencing higher latency when connecting to the database, while application servers in us-east-1b have normal latency. The network team confirms that the inter-AZ latency is within normal limits. Which of the following is the MOST likely cause of the increased latency?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently assume inter-AZ latency is negligible or that the network team's confirmation of 'normal limits' means latency is not the issue, but in SAP HANA workloads, even 1-2 ms of additional latency can cause noticeable performance degradation for cross-AZ database connections.
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 application servers in us-east-1a are now connecting to the HANA database in us-east-1b, which adds inter-AZ latency.
After the failover, the secondary HANA instance in us-east-1b became the active database. Application servers in us-east-1a must now connect across AZs to reach the database in us-east-1b, incurring inter-AZ latency. Although the network team confirms normal inter-AZ latency, the additional network hop and physical distance between AZs still introduce higher latency compared to same-AZ connections, which explains the observed increase.
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 secondary HANA instance is using a different instance type with a single Elastic Network Interface (ENI), which limits throughput.
Why it's wrong here
Instance type is likely similar; a single ENI does not cause higher latency.
- ✗
The placement group that includes the application servers and the database is now split across AZs, reducing performance.
Why it's wrong here
Placement groups cannot span multiple AZs; this would not be the cause.
- ✓
The application servers in us-east-1a are now connecting to the HANA database in us-east-1b, which adds inter-AZ latency.
Why this is correct
Previously, all connections were within the same AZ; after failover, half the servers must connect across AZs.
- ✗
The EBS volumes attached to the old primary instance are still being replicated to the secondary, causing network congestion.
Why it's wrong here
HSR uses replication at the database level, not EBS; no congestion from EBS replication.
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