PAS-C01 Design of SAP Workloads on AWS Practice Question
A company wants to automate the installation of SAP software on AWS using AWS CloudFormation. Which service is most appropriate to execute the SAP installation scripts?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates choose AWS Lambda because it is a common 'automation' service, but they overlook Lambda's 15-minute execution timeout and its inability to handle long-running, stateful installations like SAP software.
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
✓
AWS Systems Manager Run Command.
AWS Systems Manager Run Command is the most appropriate service because it can execute scripts (including SAP installation scripts) on EC2 instances without requiring SSH or RDP access, and it integrates with CloudFormation via custom resources or the AWS::SSM::Document resource. This allows you to run complex, long-running installation commands that are typical for SAP software, which Lambda functions cannot handle due to time limits.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS CodeDeploy.
Why it's wrong here
CodeDeploy is for application deployment, not for SAP installation.
- ✗
AWS Lambda functions triggered by CloudFormation.
Why it's wrong here
Lambda has execution time limits, not suitable for long installations.
- ✓
AWS Systems Manager Run Command.
Why this is correct
Run Command can execute scripts on instances with SSM Agent.
- ✗
AWS OpsWorks for Chef Automate.
Why it's wrong here
AWS OpsWorks for Chef Automate is a configuration management service, not a mechanism for executing initial installation scripts during CloudFormation stack creation. It manages server configurations and deploys application updates *after* instances are provisioned, whereas the scenario requires running SAP installation commands *as part of* the resource provisioning lifecycle. It is tempting as an automation tool, and would be suitable for ongoing configuration management and patching of SAP application servers *post-installation*, ensuring consistency across a fleet.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
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